A lawsuit challenging the results of the 2022 midterm elections in Maricopa County, Arizona, has revealed that a discrepancy in ballot size may have nullified tens of thousands of votes.
According to the Kari Lake War Room, 48 out of 113 ballots reviewed in a random sample were 19-inch ballots printed on 20-inch paper. This one-inch discrepancy caused chaos on Election Day and resulted in the mass rejection of these votes as they were processed through tabulating machines.
Video footage from Election Day shows tabulating machines rejecting misprinted ballots. The Kari Lake War Room tweeted that the ballots were “designed to be unable to be read through the machines” and that the errors were not accidental but rather “malice” intended to “disenfranchise Maricopa County voters.”
An expert witness at the trial, which was allowed to proceed this week by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson, stated that it would not be possible for a 19-inch ballot image to be printed on 20-inch paper unless the machines were manually configured by an administrator to do so.
Attorney Mark Sonnenklar, who witnessed “pandemonium” at vote centers on Election Day, testified that the errors may have disenfranchised voters and that the outcome of the election may have been different if not for the tabulator issues at 132 vote centers.
Maricopa County election director Scott Jarrett denied that the rejection of ballots caused disruptions for voters, claiming that they “had other options” and could have gone “somewhere else.”
However, cybersecurity expert Clay Parikh testified that it would not be possible for a 19-inch ballot image to be printed on a 20-inch ballot by accident, as the settings and configurations of the machines could not allow it.
Olsen asked Parikh, “Is there any way, in your opinion, for a 19-inch ballot image to be projected on a 20-inch ballot by accident?”
“No, sir,” Parikh answered.
