Bomb threats sent to Maricopa and Pima counties on Election Day contained identical language, according to copies of the threats obtained through public records requests.

Arizona was one of several states where polling places or election facilities were subject to bomb threats on Election Day. Ten of the state’s 15 counties received bomb threats that day, according to Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes.

Officials deemed the threats “non-credible” and during Election Day they stressed that no voters were in immediate danger or were kept from voting because of the threats. However, some locations had to evacuate, including in Maricopa County when a threat was aimed at the Superior Court building, where Recorder Stephen Richer’s Office is located.

On the night of the election, Richer was seen evacuating his office in response to one of the threats. Election offices in Cochise, La Paz, and Maricopa counties also evacuated, however, many others did not.

Cochise, Coconino, Gila, La Paz, Maricopa, Navajo, Pima, Pinal, Yavapai and Yuma counties all received Election Day bomb threats.

A threat emailed to Maricopa County, and obtained by the Mirror via a public records request, shares identical language to one obtained by VoteBeat in Pima County also through a public records request.

The email, with the subject line “My manifesto,” comes from an email account with the name “maga_alex” which is similar to the one received by Pima County with the same subject and a sender named “maga_sam.” Both emails have the same wording except for a change in the address where they claimed a bomb had been planted.

“It will not cause much damage to the building but there will be many wounded people when it explodes,” maga_alex said in the email to Maricopa. “I plan on remotely detonating the device as soon as there is a large police presence.”

Maricopa County Spokesman Fields Moseley told the Mirror in a written statement that the county’s training and technology prevented the possibility of the email harming the county’s tech.

“Maricopa County employs multiple intrusion prevention and detection security controls across all technology layers including email. Along with technology controls, Maricopa County performs security awareness training and simulated phishing testing,”Moseley said in the statement. “It was because of this training that the email was caught, reported and addressed rapidly and efficiently. While the email content is a threat, the email itself wouldn’t have harmed technology resources.”

Moseley said that the county could not comment further due to the on-going law enforcement investigation.

The FBI previously said on Nov. 5 that the emails “appear to originate from Russian email domains” and none of the threats were deemed credible. When asked for an update or if the FBI had engaged with the two email providers for the threats made public through records requests, the FBI deferred to their Nov. 5 statement.

The two email domains in the public records releases belong to companies called Mailum and CyberFear. Neither company responded to a request for comment.

At first glance, the websites appear to be different email services, however, when signing up for CyberFear, users are directed to Mailum, where they can choose between a @CyberFear.com email or a @Mailum.com email address.

Additionally, when viewing the source code on Mailum’s website, code for an analytics tool with the username “CyberFear” is visible.

Both companies bill themselves as privacy email options akin to ProtonMail or Tutanota that offer end-to-end encryption and “spy-proof” email services. The emails operate as a paid subscription model and in a post to the BlackHatWorld Forum in 2020, a now defunct account appearing to belong to CyberFear claimed that the service could send mass emails to up to 50 recipients.

Other states seemingly had it worse than the Grand Canyon State, like Georgia, which reported over 60 bomb threats on Election Day. An analysis of the threats by NBC News found that many targeted largely Democratic areas.

The Arizona Secretary of State’s Office said that it is continuing to work with law enforcement to investigate the threats. Despite the threats, elections across the country ran relatively smoothly.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and X.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes told reporters Tuesday that she intends to push back against potential abortion and immigration policy proposals by the administration of President-elect Donald Trump.

As she spoke to reporters in the AG’s Office Tuesday, Mayes had a printed out copy of the 900-page Project 2025 next to her in two separate three ring binders.

Project 2025 is a right-wing blueprint created by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, to reshape the United States federal government and consolidate executive power under a Trump presidency. The list of policy plans was created in large part by former Trump aides and allies.

The Heritage Foundation created the document in partnership with more than 100 other conservative groups, many with extreme views on abortion, taxes, immigration and federal agencies. Proposals in Project 2025 include completely banning abortion nationwide, bringing the U.S. Department of Justice under the direct control of the president, increased immigration enforcement and sweeping cuts to federal agencies.

While Trump has distanced himself from the proposal, the project has members of Trump’s inner circle, including former top Trump aide John McEntee, who is said to be one of the main leaders behind the proposal.

Other senior Trump administration officials have also been involved in the proposal.

Mayes called many of the proposed executive orders and proposed legislation outlined in Project 2025 unconstitutional, specifically citing the proposal’s desire to reinstate the Comstock Act of 1873 which would prohibit the mailing of certain reproductive health care medications and in effect would create a nationwide abortion ban.

“Those kinds of provisions are unacceptable to the people of this country,” Mayes said, adding that she believes it would violate both the United States Constitution and the Arizona Constitution’s provisions on privacy.

“Bottom line is this: It is my job to uphold both the Arizona and Federal constitution,” Mayes said.

Arizona voters recently enshrined abortion rights into the state’s constitution with the passage of Proposition 139. However, a federal ban enacted either by executive order or by Congress would likely overrule any state right to abortion. Trump has said he wants to leave the issue to the states, but many in his orbit have floated national abortion bans, including his vice president. Project 2025 details at great length policies that would end abortion access and curtail the availability of things like contraception.

The AG said she is anticipating defending Prop. 139 in court in the coming months as legal challenges by anti-abortion advocates to the constitutionality of the provision make their way through the courts.

Mayes also signaled her intention to push back against immigration policies that have been floated by the incoming Trump administration, saying that ending DACA — a program that grants protections to undocumented people who were brought to America by their parents when they were children — is a “line in the sand” for her office.

Trump has campaigned on a promise to do mass deportations of immigrants in the country, a plan that economists have said could cause issues for the national economy. Mayes said that seeing the migrant detention camps during Trump’s first administration led to her switching parties from Republican to Democrat.

She also called Trump’s proposed migrant camps during his promised mass deportation “concentration camps.”

“The problem with that is it leads to abuses,” Mayes said of mass deportation plans, adding that she would rather see the administration focus on violent cartel members who are inside the country.

The AG also voiced her concerns over how the process may roll out, adding that she fears the “due process” of individuals caught up in the mass deportations will be ignored in order to speed up the process saying that U.S. citizens may get caught up in the “dragnet.”

Mayes also reiterated that a Trump presidency does not stop her case against Trump 2020 fake electors.

“I have absolutely no intention of dropping the fake electors case,” she said.

Earlier this year a grand jury indicted 18 people in a fake elector scheme that aimed to install Donald Trump as president after he lost the 2020 election. Those indicted included two Arizona state senators and the former head of the Arizona Republican Party. One person in the case, GOP activist Lorraine Pellegrino, has already taken a plea deal.

“They are not affected one bit by Donald Trump’s election to the presidency,” Mayes said of the case. “It doesn’t make it easier, that’s for sure.”

Mayes added that the grand jury had initially intended to indict Trump as well as “30 members” of the Arizona legislature until they were told not to by the AG’s Office.

Republicans won nationally and locally, with efforts by Arizona and national Democrats to flip the legislature blue ultimately failed. Mayes, who has been a target of Republicans at the Arizona Legislature, said she is looking for opportunities where her office and Republicans can work together — including Trump.

One opportunity Mayes said she saw was addressing how opioid settlement money is being used in the state. The issue came into focus during this year’s budget, when money from settlements with opioid manufacturers over their role in the opioid crisis was diverted to Arizona’s prisons, something Mayes vehemently opposed.

She sued, but the court rejected her argument, allowing the money to be used for addressing issues within Arizona’s prisons. But Mayes said she is confident that the money is being used inappropriately and aims to address that in the coming legislative session.

She also voiced her desire for the incoming Trump administration to send more Drug Enforcement Agency officials to the state and said she would like to see Trump revive and enact a border bill that he urged Republicans to kill.

Overall, Mayes said her office is ready to push back against policies outlined in Project 2025, saying that her office has been analyzing the proposal for “months” and preparing departments in her office for impending legal battles related to it. She added that she has also been in communication with Democratic AGs in other states, but did not elaborate on which states.

As for the repudiation up and down the ballot of Democratic candidates, Mayes said a reckoning is in order.

“We have to be very honest with ourselves,” Mayes said. “Democrats didn’t turn out, and we need to assess why that is.”

Asked if she thought Vice President Kamala Harris was not going to win, given her preparation for a Trump presidency, Mayes said it was about being prepared.

“Hoping for the best but planning for the worst,” Mayes said.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and X.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes revealed Tuesday that two-thirds of Arizona’s counties — twice as many as was previously known — received bomb threats on Election Day.

The FBI said on Election Day that “several states” received bomb threats against particular polling locations and that the threats originate from Russian email domains. None of the threats have been deemed credible.

During a roundtable discussion with journalists, Mayes elaborated on those threats when asked by the Arizona Mirror, adding that 10 of Arizona’s 15 counties had received threats. She said that a county supervisor in La Paz County called her personally after they received one.

The counties that received threats were Cochise, Coconino, Gila, La Paz, Maricopa, Navajo, Pima, Pinal, Yavapai and Yuma.

“It is a really troubling sign of where we are as a country,” Mayes said. “It has a very disruptive effect.”

Mayes said that the non-credible threats did not impact the election as a whole, but many places across the country and in Arizona had to undergo evacuations due to the threats. Mayes said that officials in La Paz County had to evacuate on Election Night as ballots were starting to arrive to be tabulated.

“We were dealing with that on a real-time basis with local law enforcement,” she said, adding that Arizona’s Counter Terrorism Information Center was helping coordinate efforts.

Other states seemingly had it worse, like Georgia, which reported over 60 bomb threats. An analysis of the threats by NBC News found that many targeted largely Democratic areas.

The Arizona Secretary of State’s Office said it “does not have any additional info to add.”

On the night of the election, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer was seen evacuating his office due to one of the threats. Despite the threats, elections across the country ran relatively smoothly.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and X.

A man already indicted for shooting at a local Democratic National Committee Office is facing new charges related to allegations that he posted anti-Democratic signs outfitted with razor blades and bags of white powder attached to them.

Jeffrey Michael Kelly, 60, was arrested for his alleged involvement in four separate incidents of political violence. Police have tied him to a series of shootings at a Democratic National Committee office in Tempe, as well as placing the razor-blade and powder-laden anti-Democratic signs in nearby Ahwatukee.

Prosecutors said they believe he was allegedly planning a “mass casualty” event in Arizona. A search of his home revealed 120 guns, 250,000 rounds of ammunition, body armor and a grenade launcher, they said in court documents filed last month.

Kelly is accused of shooting at the Democratic office on three different occasions between Sept. 16 and Oct. 6. He initially used a C02 powered gun before escalating to .22 caliber firearms, according to Tempe Police.

Over the course of the three shootings, he fired more than 20 times, causing damage to the building late at night, according to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. Police were tipped off that Kelly might have been involved after they released photos of his vehicle, which had been spotted near thefts of Democratic yard signs in 2022.

After they began watching Kelly, they saw him placing signs that read “Dems kill Jews,” “Dems Lie” and “Never Harris,” referring to Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. The signs had razor blades and bags of white powder attached to them with the message “biohazard” and “F*** you! Play stupid games win stupid prizes! Guess the poison.”

Kelly was indicted on terrorism charges last month for the incidents involving the DNC office, but had not yet faced an indictment for the signs police saw him put up. The newly obtained grand jury indictment shows that he has since been indicted for four counts of “unlawful use of a biological substance or radiological agent,” a class 2 felony.

The indictment notes that Kelly placed “a simulated infectious biological substance” at multiple locations with the “intent to terrify, intimidate, threaten or harass.” The four counts are for each of the signs Kelly placed along the roadway in Ahwatukee.

Kelly is being represented by an attorney who uses a gun range that Kelly also frequents and has represented militia members before. During Kelly’s initial appearance, attorney Jason Squires argued that Kelly is a “sportsman” who owns a “multitude of firearms,” adding that they were all legally obtained.

The Arizona Mirror found a LinkedIn profile that appears to belong to Kelly in which he said he worked for Honeywell. His attorney said he held top secret clearances for his job until 2020.

Kelly has also posted unfounded conspiracy theories on a Facebook page found by the Mirror. As far back as 2014, Kelly was amplifying the debunked and racist “birtherism” claims about former President Barack Obama.

On Jan. 6, 2021, while rioters were storming the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the election for former President Donald Trump, Kelly changed his Facebook banner to a “Stop The Steal” logo, the movement that pushed unfounded claims around the 2020 election results.

He also posted frequent pro-gun memes, including an Islamaphobic one, and his profile picture is an edit of the infamous photo of Kathy Griffin with the severed head of Donald Trump but replaced with Biden and captioned “this is still funny right?”

The Department of Homeland Security has warned that election deniers connected to the far-right may attempt to bomb drop boxes or commit other acts of violence in the coming weeks.

A probable cause statement against Kelly disclosed that he is also under two separate federal investigations. Among the evidence police uncovered are Google searches Kelly allegedly performed looking up the address of the DNC office. The police also noted that Kelly “has finances and resources to conduct further acts of terrorism” and frequently travels across state lines.

The grand jury indictment also notes that Kelly “has a large sum of money and access to lots of guns and ammo” as the rationale behind a $500,000 cash bond. Kelly also has a $500,000 cash bond related to the terrorism charges making his total cash bond $1 million.

Kelly’s attorney claimed he did not own the vehicle at the center of the case, however, it was found on Kelly’s property, where it was covered in blankets. Police said it had been recently cleaned. Police also found two expired out-of-state license plates that were seen on the vehicle fleeing the scene.

Kelly also reportedly researched silencers and additional modifications for his weapons.

During their investigation, Tempe police found spent ammunition in Kelly’s trash that matched the caliber of rounds fired at the DNC office.

Kelly is set to appear in court on Nov. 5.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and X.

In the final press conference by Maricopa County before Election Day, officials stressed the importance of trusted sources and patience as the state and county once again take center stage in a divisive election.

“People should remember that there will still be long lines on Election Day,” Assistant County Manager Zach Shira told a room of national and international press Monday. “This is normal for a presidential election.”

The county is anticipating long lines due in part to the two-page ballot all voters will have to cast this election, the first time ballots have spilled onto a second sheet of paper since 2006. The average ballot contains 79 races and there are more than 13,000 different ballot styles across the county due to the different local races, bond issues and propositions.

Long lines and delays in making election results available have become fodder for election conspiracy theorists, who have clung onto those issues as a way to try to delegitimize the election outcome.

As voter turnout has increased in Arizona, so has a national focus on Maricopa County, which has been at the forefront of election fraud conspiracy theories, and has had a number of high profile candidates who have made national and international headlines for promoting false claims.

Arizona’s new status as a swing state has also led to increased attention from political campaigns and news media across the country. Maricopa County spokesman Fields Moseley noted Monday that the county had issued more than 650 press credentials.

Monday’s press conference focused on the numbers involved in making Maricopa’s election work, as well as preliminary information on issues that have already been seized upon by conspiracy theorists and nation-state disinformation actors.

“We will not be playing Whac-a-Mole,” Schira said of how the county plans to address misinformation. He said the county intends to focus solely on issues that would impact a voter’s ability to vote and not every false claim that arises in the coming days.

Over the weekend, a video purporting to be a whistleblower within the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office was flagged as Russian propaganda; the person in the video made a number of false claims before encouraging people to protest. Other disinformation has already begun spreading about a voter database glitch that impacts approximately 218,000 voters.

Maricopa County Sheriff Russ Skinner said his office is on “high alert” for threats against election officials and election workers in the coming days, reiterating his “zero tolerance” for criminal activity that he spoke to last week.

County officials also took the time to address those who have sown doubt directly.

“We are asking them to accept these results and move on and congratulate the winner,” Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates said, alluding to candidates like Republicans Kari Lake and Abe Hamadeh, who have yet to concede their 2022 losses and have continued to use the courts to overturn the will of the voters.

Election results will start to roll in Tuesday night, but many races may not be able to be called until Wednesday, when late-arriving early ballots begin to be counted, the county stressed. While a vast majority of votes have already been counted, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer stressed the volume of work that has been taken on.

With the two-page ballot, work has doubled, leading to shifts that go through the night and into the next morning. Richer said he and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes worked one of those shifts just recently, calling it “democracy after dark.”

But doubling the work needed to tally votes isn’t the only issue impacting election workers.

On the Oct. 7 deadline for voters to register in the state, Maricopa County received over 90,000 registrants — some registration forms were delivered in “trash bags,” Richer said. His office has been undertaking verifying those registrations, some of which were tied to a group run by a Mesa city councilman that is now under investigation in Pennsylvania.

Prosecutors in Pennsylvania are investigating irregular voter registration signatures tied to Field Media Corps run by Mesa Vice Mayor Francisco Heredia. His group has also been the subject of complaints in Arizona in 2023 and the Arizona Attorney General’s Office confirmed to the Arizona Republic that two complaints from Mohave and Navajo Counties have been sent to Maricopa County prosecutors.

Richer said his office has “admonished” the group in the past, and that his office has spoken with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office about the group.

He stressed that his office is undergoing robust signature verification on early ballots, noting that they have hired additional people to assist, to ensure the integrity of the election.

Almost 1.2 million voters have already had their ballots processed and sent to tabulation, according to Richer. When election results are released at 8 p.m. on election night, he said approximately 55% of all the expected votes will have been tabulated. But those initial results will change as Election Day ballot tallies from polling sites are downloaded from tabulators and early ballots that either arrived Monday or Tuesday or were dropped off at polling sites are processed, something that takes several days to complete.

“Despite what has been alleged in previous elections, there will not be a point where we stop tabulating,” Schira said. In 2020, election fraud conspiracy theorists claimed that Maricopa and other jurisdictions stopped counting over the night and “injected” votes for Democratic candidates in the meantime. There is no evidence of this occurring.

In light of these claims and misinformation, the county has created a new blog that will be regularly updated with information on vote counts as well as explaining how the process works. County officials stressed that voters and the media check trusted sources for information regarding the election including sites like the county’s “Just the Facts” page.

“We are asking for people’s patience,” Gates said. “We will always pick accuracy over speed.”

The county said they anticipate holding daily press conferences in the coming days as ballots are tabulated and results come in.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and X.

A man accused of shooting at a local Democratic National Committee Office and putting up anti-Democratic signs with razor blades and bags of white powder attached to them has been indicted by a grand jury on terrorism charges.

Jeffrey Michael Kelly, 60, was arrested for his alleged involvement in four separate incidents of political violence. Police have tied him to a series of shootings at a Democratic National Committee office in Tempe, as well as placing the razor-blade and powder-laden anti-Democratic signs in nearby Ahwatukee.

Prosecutors said they believed he was allegedly planning a “mass casualty” event in Arizona. A search of his home revealed 120 guns, 250,000 rounds of ammunition, body armor and a grenade launcher, according to prosecutors.

Kelly is accused of shooting at the Democratic offices on three different occasions between Sept. 16 and Oct. 6. He initially used a C02 powered gun before escalating to .22 caliber firearms, according to Tempe Police.

Over the course of the three shootings he fired more than 20 times, causing damage to the building late at night, according to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. Police were tipped off that Kelly might have been involved after they released photos of his vehicle, which had been spotted stealing Democratic yard signs in 2022.

On Monday, a grand jury indicted Kelly on one count of terrorism, three counts of discharge of a firearm at a structure, three counts of unlawful discharge of a firearm and one count of criminal damage, all felonies. He is currently being held on two $500,000 cash-only bonds.

The indictment does not appear to include charges related to the signs police saw Kelly place in Ahwatukee near his home.

Last week, law enforcement officers surveilling Kelly saw him placing signs that read “Dems kill Jews,” “Dems Lie” and “Never Harris,” referring to Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. The signs had razor blades and bags of white powder attached to them with the message “biohazard” and “F*** you! Play stupid games win stupid prizes! Guess the poison.”

Kelly has only been charged with crimes related to the DNC office shootings, but could face additional charges stemming from the signs and powder.

Kelly is being represented by an attorney who uses a gun range that Kelly also frequents and has represented militia members before. During an initial appearance last week, his attorney argued that Kelly is a “sportsman” who owns a “multitude of firearms,” adding that they were all legally obtained.

The Arizona Mirror found a Linkedin profile that appears to belong to Kelly in which he said he worked for Honeywell. His attorney said he held top secret clearances for his job until 2020.

Kelly has also posted unfounded conspiracy theories on a Facebook page found by the Mirror. As far back as 2014, Kelly was amplifying the debunked and racist “birtherism” claims about former President Barack Obama.

On Jan. 6, 2021, while rioters were storming the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the election for former President Donald Trump, Kelly changed his Facebook banner to a “Stop The Steal” logo, the movement that pushed unfounded claims around the 2020 election results.

He also posted frequent pro-gun memes, including an Islamaphobic one, and his profile picture is an edit of the infamous photo of Kathy Griffin with the severed head of Donald Trump but replaced with Biden and captioned “this is still funny right?”

The Department of Homeland Security has warned that election deniers connected to the far-right may attempt to bomb drop boxes or commit other acts of violence in the coming weeks.

A probable cause statement against Kelly disclosed that he is also under two separate federal investigations. Among the evidence police uncovered are Google searches Kelly allegedly performed looking up the address of the DNC office. The police also noted that Kelly “has finances and resources to conduct further acts of terrorism” and frequently travels across state lines.

The car that Kelly’s attorney claimed he did not own was found on Kelly’s property, where it was covered in blankets. Police said it had been recently cleaned. Police also found two expired out-of-state license plates that were seen on the vehicle fleeing the scene.

Kelly also reportedly researched silencers and additional modifications for his weapons.

During their investigation, Tempe police found spent ammunition in Kelly’s trash that matched the caliber of rounds fired at the DNC office.

Kelly is set to appear before the court this week.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and X.

As concerns grow nationwide about potential political violence at the polls, Maricopa County, the nation’s fourth most populous county, is trying to alleviate security concerns one week out from Election Day.

As of Oct. 28, the county had received more than one million early ballots with the bulk of them — over 940,000 — coming to the county via ballot drop boxes or the United States Postal Service. The remaining 75,000 have come from voters who used early polling locations.

Maricopa County Director of Elections Scott Jarret said, during a Tuesday press conference in Phoenix, that the county is surpassing voter turnout for the 2016 and 2020 elections. On Oct. 28 alone, more than 17,000 voters cast their early ballots, according to Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates.

As voter turnout has increased, so has a national focus on Maricopa County, which has been at the forefront of election fraud conspiracy theories, and has had a number of high profile candidates who have made national and international headlines for promoting these theories. Arizona has morphed into a swing state in recent years, leading to increased attention from political campaigns and news media across the country.

That increased attention has come with increased security risks. Multiple people over the past few years have been arrested for making violent threats aimed at Maricopa County election workers and officials who oversee elections.

Maricopa County Sheriff Russ Skinner told the room of reporters Tuesday that he, along with federal and local law enforcement officers, have been partaking in “immense planning” for over a year to ensure the safety of voters and election workers alike.

“We don’t have any tolerance for criminal activity,” Skinner said, adding that law enforcement will not tolerate threats of violence or those that seek to intimidate voters.

Those threats so far are fewer than during past elections, according to Skinner, but his agency is still taking precautions to ensure that threats are being monitored and reported to the appropriate agencies.

Jarret took the time to tell reporters Tuesday that Maricopa County’s two outdoor drop boxes are equipped with fire suppression equipment and are monitored 24/7.

On Oct. 24 a man in Phoenix was arrested after he reportedly set fire to a mailbox, destroying some ballots that were inside. The man, who has a history of arrests and being unhoused, told police he was not committing the act to target ballots, but that he wanted to be arrested.

However, drop boxes in Washington and Oregon were set ablaze by an “incendiary device” that destroyed a large number of ballots, raising concerns about future attacks at other drop boxes around the country.

Drop boxes became a point of contention prior to the 2022 midterm election, when conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza promoted his film “2000 Mules,” which claimed that “ballot mules” were dropping off fraudulent ballots at drop boxes across the country. The film has been widely discredited and there has been no evidence to substantiate such claims.

Even so, ballot drop boxes have become a point of focus for unsubstantiated claims of fraud from Republicans. The film’s makers have refused to provide evidence backing up their claims, and former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, has said both the FBI and the IRS should investigate nonprofit group True the Vote, which helped make the film, for alleged fraud related to the claims.

“Prior to 2020, we didn’t have these issues,” Skinner said of the need for additional security around polling places as well as the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center, commonly referred to as MCTEC.

MCTEC became the focus of conspiracy-driven protests after President Joe Biden’s win over former President Donald Trump. Crowds of protesters, some armed, gathered outside the facility after the 2020 election, and some even attempted to get inside.

Now, MCTEC’s parking lot where protesters previously gathered is fenced off and Skinner said that those who may come to protest are welcome to do so in “free speech zones” that do not interfere with MCTEC operations.

Skinner would not elaborate on specifics of the broad security planned for Election Day or at MCTEC saying he did not want to divulge how MCSO plans to be operating, however, during the primary earlier this year the Arizona Mirror observed an MCSO drone, snipers and bomb sniffing dogs patrolling the building.

Those increased demonstrations of force are something Skinner said his office is trying to be mindful of so as not to scare off those who may show up to protest.

“We don’t want to intimidate anybody,” Skinner said. “This is a double edged sword for us.”

The Phoenix Police Department as well as the Arizona Department of Public Safety will be assisting MCSO on Election Day, Skinner said. Up to 200 MCSO employees will be working per day to ensure safety on and after Election Day, Skinner said.

“I think it is sad that this is where we are at that we have to have a press conference based on security,” Gates said. “I think it is a sad commentary of what has happened in this country the past four years.”

The press conference also marked the last day for voters to mail-in their early ballot. After Tuesday, voters can drop off their early ballot at a polling location or drop box, or they can choose to vote early in person or on Election Day.

Those looking to find locations to drop off a ballot or vote in-person can do so at the county’s website.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and X.

Apache County Attorney Michael B. Whiting is still unaccounted for days after agents with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office served a search warrant at his office in relation to an investigation into alleged misuse of public monies and threatening and intimidating a political opponent.

And Mayes is functionally taking over oversight of the Apache County Attorney’s Office as a result of her investigation into Whiting, a Democrat.

On June 4, the AG’s Office served a search warrant at Whiting’s office and his home. Two days later, his office’s top staff wrote a letter asking him to resign. The letter further elaborated that Whiting was not present for the search and later turned off the GPS tracker on his government-issued vehicle and turned off his phone.

The AG’s Office has declined to comment on the scope and extent of the investigation, but a letter Mayes sent to the Apache County Board of Supervisors on Friday has shed some light on the matter.

“As part of an ongoing investigation into the alleged misuse of public monies and threatening and intimidating a political opponent, my office served a warrant on the Apache County Attorney’s Office on Tuesday, June 3, 2024,” Mayes wrote. “Seeking and executing a warrant on a County Attorney’s office was a significant decision that I did not take lightly. Since serving the search warrant, County Attorney Michael Whiting has not returned to the office, and attorneys from the office are now calling on him to resign.”

Mayes also said her office will now be overseeing the Apache County Attorney’s Office for the next 90 days, and she laid out a list of demands that the county will need to comply with in that time.

The Chief Deputy in Apache County now has decision-making authority because of Whiting’s continued absence, according to the letter. Mayes directed the agency to “preserve any and all evidence necessary for the Attorney General’s investigation” and said it must also provide monthly expenditure reports to the AG’s Criminal Division.

If Whiting returns to the office, he will have to seek approval from the chief of the AG’s criminal division before making any personnel decisions or spending more than $200. This division of the AG’s Office will also be assisting the Apache County chief deputy “as needed.”

“The exercise of my supervisory authority is intended to assist the Apache County Attorney’s Office, not control it,” Mayes’ letter said. “Nor is it intended to interfere with the Board of Supervisor’s (sic) authority over County Offices.”

Details on the warrant and the scope of Mayes’ investigation into Whiting remain unknown.

“The warrant issued earlier this week remains sealed by the court and the Attorney General’s Office has no additional comments to make at this time,” AG spokesperson Richie Taylor said.

Whiting claimed in an email to the Arizona Republic that he was “driving home from a pre-planned vacation with family.”

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and Twitter.

A fellow Republican accused former Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward of assault during the state party’s January meeting at a Phoenix church.

According to a police report obtained by the Arizona Mirror, Ward is accused of hitting a woman who criticized Ward’s involvement at the meeting, as she was no longer the party chair.

“I saw (Ward) turn back and lean over the first chair on her right and hit a woman in black with a yellow piece of paper,” a Phoenix police officer wrote in the report after viewing security camera footage from the Dream City Church where the event was being held. “She had the paper in her right hand and hit the woman in her right shoulder. It looked to be a fairly light tap on the video.”

The annual meeting was full of contentious moments as state committee members voted to elect Gina Swoboda to lead the party only days after the former chairman, Jeff DeWitt, resigned amid allegations of bribery by failed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake. Ward was reported to have cut in line and taken a microphone from one attendee’s hand.

Both Ward and the woman involved have different recollections of the incident.

Ward did not return messages seeking comment.

Laura Schafer, the victim who told police she wants to pursue assault charges, said as Ward walked past her she mentioned to her husband that Ward is no longer the chair, leading to Ward striking her “on the right side of her head and shoulder with both a fist and paper one time.”

Additional witnesses, including Schafer’s husband and Vera Gebran, a former candidate for the legislature, said they’d testify to seeing Ward hit the woman.

Ward told police that she had just finished speaking at the microphone when “a crazy lady started yelling at her” that she was no longer the party chair.

Ward said she “tapped her on the shoulder with a paper” she was holding and that no part of her hand or fist hit the woman. Ward told police that the “tap” was to “emphasize her point” that she was glad she is no longer the chair and denied assaulting the woman.

Police did not see any injuries on Schafer, and she did not report being injured.

The report says that police submitted the report to the Phoenix City Prosecutor’s Office for consideration of assault charges.

Ward was kept in an “isolated part of the church” away from Schafer in order to cast her vote, the report states.

Ward is also facing possible prosecution for her role as a fake elector in the 2020 election.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and Twitter.

Republican lawmakers are gearing up for a showdown with Gov. Katie Hobbs over creating a fix for an impending election timeline issue created by Republican changes to the state’s recount law which could lead to overseas and military voters becoming disenfranchised and the state’s choice for president not being counted.

The Republican proposal, which also includes provisions aimed at signature verification, the use of school facilities for voting and other changes, has already been deemed dead on arrival by Gov. Katie Hobbs, who said that she would only support a “clean fix.”

Any measure that is passed will also need two-thirds of the legislature to approve of it in order to trigger an emergency measure in the bill, allowing it to go into effect immediately.

On Tuesday, the Senate and House convened a special meeting to hear two bills aimed at addressing issues that Arizona counties and election officials say could disenfranchise military voters. The issue stems from a 2022 bill that greatly expanded when an automatic recount is triggered.

Counties and election officials have been stating that due to the change and the anticipated likelihood of automatic recounts being triggered under the new law, it will increase the risk of Arizona missing federal deadlines required for elections, such as the deadline to mail ballots to military members overseas. Officials also said that it could cause counties to miss the federal deadline for sending the state’s Presidential Electors to Congress.

Republicans and Democratic members of the legislature have been negotiating a fix to the issue since summer of 2023, however, if a fix is not made by this week, counties are anticipating that it could impact voters and lead to issues. Counties have been asking that the upcoming primary election be moved to earlier in the year to accommodate for the new recount thresholds and to allow for counties to meet these deadlines.

Tuesday’s meeting hearing the two Republican measures started off with a warning from Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, one of the chairs, who said that testimony on the bills would be limited and she would remove anyone who caused any disruptions.

Rogers also shot down any line of questioning related to if the bills could impact any litigation that Rep. Alexander Kolodin, R-Scottsdale, an election attorney, might currently be engaged in. Kolodin sponsored the House legislation.

And last year, he was sanctioned for election lawsuits he brought in Arizona following the 2020 election.

“We will not cast aspersions by deflecting to things that are not germane,” Rogers said after Sen. Priya Sundareshen, D-Tucson, asked about the impact of codifying parts of the Elections Procedures Manual on signature verification could impact litigation Kolodin has been involved in. “That is not a rabbit hole we are going down.”

Clean fix or not

Democrats and voting advocates have been pushing for a “clean fix” to the impending timeline issue faced by election officials.

Rep. Laura Terech, D-Scottsdale, put forward the Democrats’ own solution, which primarily focused on changing the timeline for recounts, canvassing and testing of election equipment. Democratic lawmakers stated that they would not support legislation that added additional policy changes to any bill aimed at addressing the issue.

During the press conference Monday, Sundareshen said that the “clean fix” solution put forward by the Democrats was created after “months” of negotiations with Republicans, who she said had agreed to many of the terms approximately two weeks ago.

Republicans offered a different view during Tuesday’s committee meeting.

Republican lawmakers said that their intention is to make sure counties are not “rushing” when it comes to certain procedures if timelines are crunched. They specifically cited signature verification, which was a key point in failed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s lawsuit aiming to overturn the 2022 election results.

Republicans contended that the bill simply codifies into law the guidelines around signature verification that were set forth by the Election Procedures Manual created by then Secretary of State Katie Hobbs in 2019.

“There is absolutely zero problem with codifying what the counties are already doing,” Rep. Jacqueline Parker, R-Mesa, said. “Let’s ensure that counties are following the law.”

However, Democratic members and voting rights advocates argued that the language in the bill is different from the EPM. In the bill, it states that a signature must be “clearly consistent,” which Democratic lawmakers and voting rights advocates said is a much higher standard than the current EPM which states that a signature that is different and can be “reasonably explained” can still be accepted.

“That’s going to stay in the bill,” Kolodin said, replying to his Democratic colleagues who voiced concern over the change.

Jen Marson, executive director for the Arizona Association of Counties, said that county recorders were on board with the change, though there has been some disagreement among county recorders. Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly sent a letter to the committee declaring her opposition to the bill.

Rep. Betty Villegas, D-Tucson, attempted to read the letter, but Rogers said Villegas couldn’t do so until they were voting on the bill.

“I guess my recorder doesn’t have a voice,” Villegas retorted.

Other county recorders did speak to the committee in support of the legislation, including Yavapai County Recorder Michelle Burchill and Pinal County Recorder Dana Lewis.

“I know it has been a lot of give and take on all sides,” Burchill told the committee. “We will make this work no matter what the version is.”

Marson echoed those sentiments during her testimony, saying that the counties were ready to implement changes in the bill and that they had been involved with negotiations with legislators since early last summer.

“We have done a great job of working with the players so far, and we can work with the different variations,” Marson said, adding that they do not want to see any more new policy changes added to the bills. “If you leave things in, we can do it. If you take things out, we can do it.”

However, Hobbs and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes have both made clear that they desire a “clean fix” to the problem.

“I have shown time and time again that I am willing to compromise, but I will not sign a bill that’s filled with harmful unrelated legislation or that hurts voters’ right to have their voice heard at the ballot box,” Hobbs said in a joint statement with Fontes. “I have been clear from day one: voters did not create this problem, and they should not be harmed to fix it.”

The main goal that counties are seeking to have done by this week is to save 19 days in the primary calendar and 17 in the general election so there is more time to contend with a possible automatic recount. Officials have repeatedly said that, in order to meet timelines, a fix must be done by Feb. 9.

Without a fix, election officials may be unable to send voters overseas their ballots in time for them to reach them and have the correct information on them in the case that a recount in the primary changes the ballot. Members of the Arizona National Guard Association have voiced their concerns about this possibility and have been urging lawmakers to pass a fix.

The Arizona Secretary of State’s Office was sued in 2018 by the U.S. Department of Justice after it concluded that absentee and UOCAVA ballots were not given enough time during a special election.

Republican lawmakers have also been opposed to an outright repeal of the 2022 recount law to return the state to its previous automatic recount thresholds.

Michele Ugenti-Rita, a former lawmaker from Scottsdale who spearheaded the recount change, and who is now running for the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, placed blame directly on the counties and election officials in a statement to the Arizona Mirror.

“It is shameful there is not greater outrage about the dereliction of duty perpetrated by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisor’s [sic] and county election officials who are unable and unwilling to perform their statutory duties and instead resort to pitiful scare tactics that exploit our nations [sic] real heroes,” Ugenti-Rita said.

The bill put forward by Republicans to fix the issue proposes several changes, including moving the Aug. 6 primary to July 30 this year, and then to March beginnin in 2026. It would also allow counties to send their voter canvasses to the secretary of state electronically, shorten the time counties have to submit their election canvass by three days, allow a candidate to opt out of a recount and allow for five calendar days instead of business days for voters to “cure” questioned signatures on early ballots.

The latter change gave Democratic lawmakers worry, as they claimed that switching the ballot cure period to include weekends could disenfranchise voters who use public transportation or live in rural communities. Republicans said that the change is for the better, allowing those who may not be able to cure their ballot during the weekday due to work to do so on the weekend instead.

Republicans said they are willing to amend certain parts of the bill to get buy-in from Democrats, but Kolodin insisted that the signature verification changes must remain.

Voting rights advocates, one of which was removed from Tuesday’s hearing, feel differently.

‘Take your seat, now!’

Ben Scheel, executive director for the left-leaning Opportunity Arizona, has been kicked out of and prohibited from testifying to legislative committees before.

Last session, Scheel and others voiced their concerns about Republican lawmakers silencing progressive organizations they disagreed with at the Capitol after he was denied the ability to speak at the House Elections Committee and then barred from ever doing so after he used the phrase “conspiracy theorist.”

Although Rogers said the legislative panels would hear from an equal number of supporters and opponents of the bill, Republicans only took testimony from a single person against the measure. When Scheel, who opposes the bill, approached the podium and asked if he could speak, he was yelled down by Rogers and others.

“Take your seat, now!” Rogers shouted, before calling for the Senate sergeant-at-arms to remove Scheel. Other members objected and asked if he could speak, but Rogers refused.

Parker, who booted Scheel from the House Municipal Oversight and Elections Committee last year, said that Scheel did not respect the body.

“It’s appalling,” Scheel said to the Mirror about being removed from the hearing.

“I believe they are making attempts that are undemocratic and harming voters, and their response is to not let the public comment on that,” he added. “I think they prove our point when they behave this way.”

Scheel said he believes that the legislature should only focus on a “clean fix” and believes that the bills proposed by Republicans will ultimately harm voters. He said that the changes to signature verification will ultimately lead to the tossing out of legitimate votes, adding that Republican lawmakers are “holding hostage” a fix for their own policy gains.

“They are simply trying to make it more difficult to validate signatures,” Scheel said, adding that he has never been stopped from providing testimony in the Senate before.

Rogers also disallowed questions related to Kolodin’s involvement in litigation surrounding signature verification, as well as how the legislation could impact it.

“Is anyone who is involved in those lawsuits, were they involved in these negotiations?” Sundareshen asked. When she pushed to ask the question again, Rogers cut her off.

“This is a far cry from the arrangement and agreement we came to a few weeks ago,” Sundareshen said later. “I fear that the signature verification aspect is intended to assist in ongoing litigation.”

Sen. Ken Bennett, R-Prescott, said he intends to reach out to both parties to hopefully address everyone’s concerns moving forward.

“I believe that all of the concerns that have been noted today…can and should be addressed between now and the committees of the whole in our respective bodies,” Bennett said.

Other Republicans said that, while not perfect, the fix is what is needed to ensure voters overseas can still participate in the upcoming elections.

“None of the curing process that we are proposing here is going to disenfranchise anybody,” Rep. Austin Smith, R-Surprise, said, adding that he is looking forward to seeing the bill further amended.

Both the Senate and House bills passed out of committee along party lines. They’ll next be considered by their respective chambers, where they will need a vote of two-thirds of all lawmakers in order for it to pass and go into effect immediately instead of 90 days after legislators end their annual session, which typically happens in May or June.

Republicans hold one-vote majorities in each body, meaning Democratic opposition will ensure the fix won’t be in place to change anything for this year’s elections.

Those opposed to the measure have stated they intend to continue to fight for a “clean fix.”

“They are holding our elections hostage in order to make it easier to invalidate ballots from MAGA extreme Republican attorneys,” Scheel said.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and Twitter.

For the second time in five months, Republican state lawmakers listened intently and offered no pushback during a day-long special hearing at the Arizona Senate billed as examining the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic that was instead rife with conspiracy theories, misinformation and fear-mongering around vaccines and public health.

In May, the Novel Coronavirus Southwestern Intergovernmental Committee featured testimony from a group of supposed health experts who spread myriad misinformation about vaccines and the pandemic during the committee’s time. On Friday, the committee convened again, bringing some of the same people to speak.

The committee had previously faced criticism for its awkward name, which has been promoted in abbreviated form by the QAnon-friendly political nonprofit The America Project. The abbreviated name, NCSWIC, is a commonly used abbreviation in the QAnon world, where it means “Nothing Can Stop What Is Coming,” alluding to predictions of arrests and executions of members of the “deep state.”

Although the official name of the panel spells the word “southwestern” correctly, the committee was listed as “NCSWIC” on the Arizona Legislature’s website and the abbreviation was used by outside boosters.

The Republican elected officials on the panel were state Sens. T.J. Shope and Janae Shamp, the chair and vice-chair, respectively, of the state Senate’s Health and Human Services Committee; state Rep. Steve Montenegro, who chairs the state House of Representatives’ Health and Human Services Committee; and U.S. Reps. Andy Biggs, Eli Crane and Paul Gosar.

While the state legislators were in attendance, Biggs, Crane and Gosar only appeared electronically and delivered pre-recorded video addresses. All three were in Washington, D.C., Friday as Republicans are locked in a fight over who should lead the U.S. House of Representatives.

“It’s disheartening to see Arizona’s elected officials once again provide a platform for spreading dangerous disinformation about vaccines for children,” Becky Christensen, founder and state campaigns director of SAFE Communities Coalition, the nation’s first pro-vaccine political advocacy organization, said in a statement to the Arizona Mirror. “Public health should be guided by fact-based information, not misinformation. Their actions undermine efforts to safeguard our communities.”

Christensen added that lawmakers should seek “responsible and informed discourse” to help better guide public health decisions.

Misinformation returns

Dr. Peter McCoullough once again boldly proclaimed that the COVID-19 virus came from a lab in Wuhan, China. There is no consensus on the origin of the virus.

McCoullough is known for spreading unfounded claims, especially around the origins of the virus. He previously has stated that he believed the pandemic was “planned” and has promoted the QAnon conspiracy film “Plandemic.”

McCoullough has become a darling to those in both QAnon and the broader conspiracy world, appearing regularly on shows like the one hosted by conspiracy theorist Stew Peters, who said the COVID vaccine is a “bioweapon.” Peters also was behind multiple QAnon conspiracy documentaries that made dubious claims about the vaccine, including that it included snake venom.

McCoullough has also appeared on disgraced retired Gen. Michael Flynn’s “Reawaken America” tour, where he has denounced drag shows and gender identity issues.

During Friday’s hearing, McCoullough spread even more falsehoods around COVID-19 and vaccine efficacy.

“It is called ‘turbo cancer’ for a reason,” McCoullough said, adding that he believes it is “theoretically possible” that multiple vaccines “could be related to cancer.”

The term “turbo cancer” comes from people who have spread false information about the COVID vaccine, attempting to link it to an aggressive form of cancer. There is no established link between the vaccine and cancer, and studies have found either no association or found a decreased risk of lymphoma.

McCoullough also continued to spread a false claim that 17 million people have been killed by the vaccine. The notion comes from a highly flawed analysis of data claiming that mortality rates were spiking because of the vaccine. McCoullough also spread other similar claims, such as saying that more than 500,000 people in the United States were killed by the vaccine, an idea based on a misrepresentation of United Kingdom data.

And McCoullough appeared to make claims that alluded to a conspiracy theory widely adopted by QAnon adherents, which was featured in a discredited film, claiming that blood clots found in people’s bodies were caused by the COVID vaccine.

The film, “Died Suddenly,” suggests it is all part of a shadowy plot to depopulate the world. But experts who have examined the film’s claims have said that many of the clots appear to be post-mortem clots. Cases of clots caused by the vaccine are “very rare,” according to one study that found only approximately 1,000 cases out of 2 million. The movie also featured incidents that occurred before the pandemic in 2020, but presented them as consequences of vaccination.

A member of the panel also has a direct connection to the conspiracy film.

Dr. Peter Chambers, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, appears in the film speaking about the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database, or DMED, which he claimed showed a spike in medical conditions in the military which he attributed to COVID-19 vaccines.

Chambers’ claim has been debunked since 2021 by multiple fact-checkers.

The former military doctor is also a believer in the debunked conspiracy theory that 5G cellular technology is connected to the COVID-19 virus. Chambers also was part of a failed lawsuit seeking to prevent the military from implementing a COVID vaccine mandate.

Chambers’ presentation to the committee included a slide that referred to the “globalists.”

The globalist conspiracy theory is a far-right conspiracy theory with roots in antisemitism and is also often connected to the idea of a “New World Order” and a one-world government, most often with the Jewish people at the center of the conspiracy. Peters, the conspiracy theory talk show host and the man behind “Died Suddenly,” frequently works with antisemites and white supremacists. Chambers has also been supported by the America Project, which boosted the hearing and helped fund the Arizona Senate’s partisan “audit” of the 2020 election.

Also returning to the committee was Aaron Siri, an attorney who is most well known for his work with an organization called the Informed Consent Action Network, or ICAN.

ICAN has been on the frontlines of anti-vaccine misinformation and is led by Del Bigtree, a television and film producer who has become an anti-vaccine activist. ICAN was listed as one of the “key organizations” tied to the Center for Countering Digital Hate’s “The Disinformation Dozen,” the anti-vaxxers who play leading roles in spreading digital misinformation about COVID vaccines. Chambers mentioned that he worked with Bigtree on anti-vaccine issues.

Siri claimed that “you can’t say vaccines have reduced chronic health issues” among children.

“I’m not saying vaccines cause those,” he said, sharing a misleading claim on chronic illness in children. “Something is definitely going on.”

The committee also heard from Arizona resident Calli Varner, who claimed that she had a stroke due to the COVID vaccine.

Varner had an ischemic stroke when a blood-clot made its way to her brain. Strokes have been on the rise in younger populations, with doctors theorizing that one cause could be patent foramen ovale, which is present in between 24 to 40% of the population and generally goes unnoticed.

Varner told the committee that she has had various health problems develop, including an autoimmune issue, since she got vaccinated. McCoullough said he had been consulting with the Scottsdale resident about her experience and used the opportunity to say that strokes, infertility and immune disorders are being caused by the vaccine.

Studies have shown that those who contracted COVID-19 have an increased risk of stroke, while those who got the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines and did not contract COVID -19 have “no difference in stroke risk.” There is also no evidence that the vaccine causes infertility and no conclusive evidence to suggest a link between the vaccine and autoimmune disorders.

McCoullough also once again spoke about the scientifically unsound plan to help people remove spike proteins from people’s bodies.

Shamp, a former nurse who has claimed she was fired because she refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine, came up with the idea for the hearing and those in attendance applauded her for putting it together.

Shamp, who was present during the events of Jan. 6, has spread a multitude of QAnon conspiracy theories online for years, including a post with “NCSWIC” in it. Shamp said at the end of the hearing Friday that another one will be happening “sometime in December.”

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and Twitter.