Arizona: the Epicenter of 2020 Election Misinformation

State and federal officials have continually pushed debunked stolen election theories.

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Last month, a group of Arizona voters and the progressive non-profit Free Speech For People filed three separate lawsuits in Maricopa County Superior Court against state Rep. Mark Finchem and U.S. Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar for their respective roles in the January 6 Capitol riot. 

The lawsuits argue that Finchem—running for Arizona secretary of state—and Biggs and Gosar—both seeking reelection—participated in the January 6 insurrection in such a way that disqualifies them from holding public office, according to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which was ratified after the Civil War. The section, known as the Disqualification Clause, bars anyone from holding public office who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

On April 22, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Christopher Coury dismissed the lawsuits, saying state court didn’t have the jurisdiction to try such a case and that the judicial branch interfering with the legislative branch of government “arguably implicates the doctrines of federalism and separation of powers between the branches of government.” They suits are similar to efforts to disqualify Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and North Carolina GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn for the same reasons (a federal appeals court is considering a lower court’s dismissal of the lawsuit against Cawthorn, and a Georgia judge has yet to rule on Greene’s case).

The Arizona lawsuits won’t keep Finchem, Biggs, and Gosar from seeking reelection, but they do offer a glimpse into conversations taking place in the Grand Canyon State, which has become ground zero for the “Stop the Steal” movement and election disinformation. Arizona has undergone at least 10 reviews of the 2020 election (which includes both official reviews and several unofficial partisan efforts), none of which have found any evidence of widespread fraud. Yet efforts to overturn that election continue.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    “Arizona’s various election reviews include a post-election statutory hand count audit confirming the accuracy of the original machine count, a post election logic and accuracy test, an extensive—and widely criticized—$5.6 million partisan election review by Cyber Ninjas (a Florida-based cybersecurity firm with no experience in election security) that provided no evidence of fraud, an interim report from Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich that again provided no evidence of fraud, and a proposal from Finchem that recycled the same debunked claims and baseless “evidence.” Furthermore, in Fall 2021, the Maricopa County Elections Department enlisted Packetwatch, a cybersecurity and incident response firm, to investigate a specific fraud allegation from the Cyber Ninjas report but also found no evidence of such fraud. ”

    It’s amazing how incompetent these people are. If you’re going to fraudulently investigate an election you think was a “fraud” with the goal of overturning it, you’d think you wouldn’t prove over and over again that the other guy in fact one fair and square all along.

    Khaya, I hope you enjoy this beat given the amount of time and work you’ve put into it.

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  2. Avatar photo
    Pat Riot

    Sadly, with all of the political noise going on right now, this story gets lost sometimes.

    From a historical perspective, this issue and the 1/6 insurrection are the ones history will remember about this era. Never before has our country come so close to no longer existing.

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  3. Richard Kennedy

    I look for bylines. Missed yours
    Good to have you back, Khaya!

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  4. Avatar photo
    Taylor L

    It really depends on what "accountability" looks like, in my opinion. The public is watching this and taking it in will inform them on what best to do in the next election. As long as no legal lines are being crossed, letting these officials brand themselves either as liars or incompetent is a real, if not immediately satisfying, consequence. But if we remove people from the ballot for lying to the public, even if it is about the legitimacy of the election, would that be a more troubling use of state power than the failed (so far) attempts of these officials? Also, what are the full implications of setting a precedent of ballot disqualification and would we be comfortable seeing Trump loyalists wield such a power? Is this a case where resisting the urge to "do something" will let the effort die a natural death instead of giving it fresh reason to fight?

    Thanks for keeping an eye on this for us, Khaya et al.

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  5. Jim S

    I believe the technical term for the Arizona legislative is ‘crazypants’. It was a hard fight but we finally snatched the crazy crown off Florida’s head.

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    1. Avatar photo
      AnnaA

      I don't know, I'll take your Gosar and raise you our Gohmert asking the Forest Service if they can move the moon :)

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  6. Avatar photo
    Scarlette Tarte

    The BIG LIE continues. I can tell you why Arizona is so prone to falling for the Big Lie. Because it's a state full of old, white people retirees that watch FOX News or OANN or Newsmax.

    And the Republican party in that state plays to those people. More specifically, plays to the fears of old people.

    My mom fell prey to this when she was much older, in her 80's. My mom was a liberal firebrand when she was younger, but older people often become fearful. My mom did. She grew easily bewildered, and sought comfort in people that played to her fear.
    I just fixed the TV so that she could no longer get FOX and OANN. I told her that the cable company had dropped them. She started watching other news, like NPR, in the evenings with us, and she began to lose those fears.

    By the time she died, she was back to her old self. Full of confidence and afraid of nothing. I saw no reason to let my mom's final years be eaten up by fear and conspiracy.

    The FOX effect on old people has been documented by several other people. The kindest thing anyone could do is turn off the cable news that runs to the people of Arizona.

    Sure, it's not gonna happen, it's a free speech thing. But why Arizona has so many believers in a false idea is no mystery.

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    1. Raincheck

      Common misperception. Arizona’s population over 65 is only slightly more than the national average (18% versus 16.5%). There are a lot of young families. And two major universities. Almost a third of Arizonans are Hispanics, and non-Hispanic whites make up only 54.1% of the population, less than the national average.

      There is a stereotype of Arizonans as a old white retirees, but it doesn’t match the actual demographic makeup of the state.

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      1. Avatar photo
        Scarlette Tarte

        I am pretty sure I think that it's full of older folk because I go visit my uncle and aunt out there. They live in a retirement community and to my untrained eye, it just looks like retirement community after retirement community. They live in Sun City.

        Also, and no knock on the state intended...I have never seen anyplace with more mobile homes. Is it because it is dry, no tornadoes, a good place to live in one, or are they manufactured in Arizona or what? Some places are nothing but mobile home neighborhoods.

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      2. Kevin Brady

        Thank you for this info, Raincheck, it does change my perception of the state (which I've never visited).

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    2. Avatar photo
      Alex Mudd

      It's not just old white people in Arizona who buy the lies, there are a lot of millennials and gen-Xers here who do as well. As someone who has lived in Phoenix for essentially my whole life I can attest to that.

      We're an unfortunately segregated state in terms of ideology. A lot of Arizonans live in a bubble of like-minded people. Many seem incapable of acknowledging that voters who think differently exist just a few miles away, which is one of the reasons they have so much trouble accepting the election results.

      I have several family members in that category. Although they espouse some of the Big Lie talking points it seems to be more about convenience rather than true belief, at least now that we're a year and a half out from the election (the holdouts I know were pinning a lot of their remaining hope on AG Brnovich's latest report).

      Republicans in Arizona are like Republicans in a lot of places. They're frustrated by the real biases they see in education and the media and have come to the conclusion that bad faith arguments are forgivable as long as you're using them against progressives who, as they see it, have done far worse and are winning because of it.

      The maverick worship is definitely still alive and well, but there's a toxic hatred for McCain among today's Arizona Republicans who drank the populist Kool-Aid. The MAGA-era "mavericks" are insidious bizarro-McCains, and it has given them a frightening stranglehold over the state party apparatus and primary voters.

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      1. Avatar photo
        Scarlette Tarte

        I think you are somewhat right about the millennials as well, although I don't see many of them believing in the big lie, but rather, other conspiratorial stuff, like Epstein was murdered (may have been, I could easily believe it, but until we have evidence, I can't say with a certainty.) or the moon landing was fake. But yes, I do see some of that in that age bracket.

        Not living in Arizona, I don't know how you are segregated. Arizona used to be pretty solid red...what has happened to change your politics to purple? My favorite uncle and aunt retired out there, and all I know of the state (outside of the grand canyon, Sedona and the incredible, dali-esque Vermilion Cliffs National Monument as a tourist) I know from visiting them. They live in a retirement community and really, to me, it looked like Arizona was one giant retirement community. Their neighbors were mostly Republican...a few Democrats, and a few MAGA types.

        It's unfortunate that Republicans see the biases in the culture toward progressives and then think it's okay to do or say whatever to other human beings because the "ends justify the means". I am a liberal in a red state, in the reddest part of that red state. Regular people here have a bias against Democrats and liberals and very often say and sometimes do very hurtful things here to their Democratic neighbors. None of us have said "well, we are frustrated so let's treat them like crap, the ends justify the means". It never does. I don't think we ever reweave the social fabric if all we are doing is tearing each other down, especially our neighbors and those other regular folk who are really very much like us.

        Let me know how your politics got purple, I am interested in learning about that!

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      2. Jim S

        I think there are alot of Republicans here in AZ that are in complete denial about how off putting their rhetoric is. They look at the political history of the state, its strong rightward tilt and the only explanation they have for a Biden win is fraud.

        But that’s not what happened at all. It was not Arizona Democrats that put Joe Biden over the top. It was Arizona Republicans who crossed over because they were so disgusted with the GOP candidate,

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        1. Avatar photo
          Scarlette Tarte

          Well that's good to know. That is encouraging.

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  7. Avatar photo
    Pat @ Tavi Hall

    Great article

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  8. Benny White

    You got it right Khaya. Well done!

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