• 2 months ago
After Trump claimed the 2020 Presidential election was “rigged,” a short documentary shows the effect of election conspiracies in the crucial jurisdiction of Maricopa County, Arizona, through the experience of one elected official.Film by Paul Moakley and Daniel Lombroso
Transcript
00:00Okay, again, please, no outbursts. Please proceed.
00:09And I'd just like another reminder, please, that you do work for We the People.
00:14Thank you. 84% of poll workers in Arizona have zero confidence in our election process. You
00:21guys forget you represent We the People. Arizona needs to vote and count.
00:26Again, please, please.
00:28We have nothing to stand up under the Constitution of the United States of America.
00:33And without us standing up under that, we have nothing. Nothing.
00:38Voters in Arizona head to the polls Tuesday. And in some of the key contests,
01:01leading Republican candidates have doubled down on far-right conspiracies
01:06denying the results of the 2020 election.
01:09Of course, Arizona has seen election-related protests in the past, just two years ago.
01:14It is clear in Arizona that they must decertify the election. You heard the numbers.
01:22And those responsible for wrongdoing must be held accountable. It was a corrupt election.
01:31Turn around and speak to everybody. We're going to run them out of the building.
01:35We know you're puppeteers. We know you follow your orders. And we are here to let you know
01:40that America is taking up the challenge of your attack. And we're going to double down on the
01:45ante. And you will be defeated. And you will be tried, just like the Nuremberg, like the Nazis
01:52were. The concept of truth itself is in debate here. This is, right now, a loyalty test. And
01:58the GOP is largely going along with former President Trump.
02:03The threats are against Republican Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates.
02:18It seems like a lot of voters are on edge right now. And as we hear reports of attempted voter
02:25intimidation, poll observers, poll watchers, there would be nothing that extremists and
02:31election deniers would like more than for voters to feel scared about whether they should vote.
02:37And for us, actually, from the threats perspective,
02:40unfortunately, there's still people out there spreading misinformation, just in the last week,
02:46about what some of our employees did in the 2020 election. And they're sending out videos
02:52saying that certain people violated laws, although this has been litigated over and
02:56over again. And guess what? Those employees who are called out by name on social media
03:01are getting some of the most vile threats, threatening emails, etc. So again,
03:06we're still dealing with this. I know like everyone else is. But this is a cancer.
03:12My first political memory is the 1976 presidential campaign. I spoke to my kindergarten class and I
03:21told them to all tell their parents to vote for Gerald Ford, because if they didn't,
03:24their parents were going to lose their jobs. And I would come home and watch C-SPAN.
03:32Kids dream about becoming a firefighter or an athlete. And this was always my dream,
03:37When I turned 18, I was able to register as a Republican. I've always had this interest in
03:45emerging democracies in the former Eastern Bloc. I remember Ronald Reagan standing up and saying,
03:52you know, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. That was always my dream to do that.
04:00Fight for democracy there. Then when I went to law school, I was in the Harvard Law School
04:05Republicans, the Federalist Society, and I wrote for the conservative journal there.
04:11We called it the conservative trifecta.
04:13But this is a different Republican party than the party that I joined many, many years ago.
04:20Which is more valuable to you, the President, the people, or the people?
04:27I think the president is a great person. I think that he is a great person.
04:32He is a great person. I think that he is a great person.
04:35I think he is a great person.
04:36I think that he is a great person.
04:38than the party that I joined many, many years ago.
05:12Our next speaker is Kimberly Burleson.
05:15Maricopa County Elections, this is Drew speaking, how can I help you today?
05:20You scumbag cheating Democrats.
05:22Hi, ma'am.
05:23Look, if you have a concern, I can actually talk to you and I'll be happy to help you.
05:27We're going to arrest all you people that are involved in this.
05:29You're going to be hung or shot, that's what they do for traitors, sir, for treason.
05:34I'm sorry, I do not tolerate that kind of language.
05:37If you, if you would like to talk to me in a civil way.
05:51They were filming and recording early voters calling themselves Clean Elections USA.
05:57They're recruiting people across the country to watch ballot drop boxes in an effort to
06:02detect fraud.
06:10Our whole system here has been set up to keep the American people deaf dumb and blind to
06:17how the world operates.
06:23We've all seen stuff on the news and we know that there's a lot of trouble and we're just
06:29trying to save our republic.
06:32Our founding fathers gave us this job.
06:36They told us here, here's your constitutional republic.
06:40It's yours if you can keep it.
06:43And they gave us guns and they gave us laws and we just need to make sure that we follow
06:50those because this is our country.
06:57Interesting.
07:13In my chairman's speech, I said, I want to make this the most transparent election in
07:18the history of Maricopa County.
07:21For some reason we thought it might be good to talk about elections today.
07:25Um, you know, I don't know how we landed on that.
07:28So of course we have a recorder, Stephen Richard.
07:31You cannot bring a firearm within 75 feet of 223 vote centers.
07:36It'll take us about 10 to 12 days to post those final results.
07:4013% by the end of the night, the rest of the world, the eyes of the world, the eyes of
07:44the world are on Maricopa County.
07:48Our central facility is live streamed 24 seven, only a limited number of people have badge
07:52access to it.
07:53All of the wiring is exposed wiring.
07:55So you can see that it goes directly from a tabulator, not to the outside world, but
07:59directly to the election management server.
08:02Any computer box that is in that room is put in inside another sealed box that is only
08:07opened by lock key, meaning that you couldn't just go around and stick a flash drive or
08:11anything of the like in there.
08:13And as mentioned before, at all times, there are Republicans, Democrats working this process,
08:17but also Republican and Democrat official party observers who are there at any time
08:22that tabulation is actively occurring.
08:24How bipartisan is this group alleged voter intimidation, problems with chain of custody,
08:29a specific hotline?
08:30Are you worried?
08:33I wouldn't use the word worried.
09:17People out there have been told lies about people trying to steal an election.
09:22And I think it's even more than that.
09:24You know, it's sort of a fear of change and the way this country has changed, the way
09:29this has become, frankly, a more diverse, multi-ethnic democracy.
09:37I think that troubles some people.
09:39They want things to go back the way they used to be.
09:42So, what's really important for people to know is that we have 223 vote centers across
09:51Maricopa County.
09:53So even if lines do start to develop at the vote center you're at, you have 222 other
09:58options.
09:59In these close races, I don't expect for us to know the results this evening, but we anticipate
10:04by Friday we should have about 95 to 99 percent of the ballots counted.
10:11Okay, great.
10:12No, I don't think so.
10:13For now, reporting live in Phoenix, Jamie Warren, ABC 15, Arizona.
10:20How are you feeling?
10:22Nervous as hell.
10:23Oh, well, that's good luck, right?
10:25No.
10:33So, what exactly is happening?
10:37Why are you locked out?
10:42What's going on?
10:52So, we don't know.
10:53We don't know.
11:07We did want to come out and discuss one issue.
11:09In about 20 percent of the vote centers, when people will go and they try and run the ballot
11:16through this tabulator, maybe one out of every five or so of those ballots, they're not going
11:21through.
11:22But, this is something we've prepared for.
11:25We will ask them to go here at door number three and place their ballot into this secure
11:30box.
11:31The key for everyone to understand is everyone is still getting to vote.
11:36No one is being disenfranchised.
11:38How worried are you that an hour and a half into today, you already have these real issues
11:45that could be manipulated or turned into reasons for people to once again not trust the system?
11:50Did you account for the fact that now people have to go get these ballots and bring them
11:54back here and count?
11:55Yes.
11:56If someone is alleging voter fraud, we have to have evidence.
11:58You can't just say it and make it into being.
12:01No, I would not say that this is a disaster.
12:04This is a hiccup.
12:05And we feel bad about this.
12:07We're sorry that this happened.
12:08I'm just not confident in the people who we've elected to run these elections.
12:12Yes.
12:13I mean, they're not good.
12:14They're not good at their jobs.
12:20These lines are a disgrace.
12:22We need people in handcuffs and leg irons.
12:24To the people of Arizona, stay online.
12:29Don't leave.
12:30It's very, very unfair what's going on.
12:32And who is this guy Bill Gates, this Mr. Rogers guy that walks in front of the microphone
12:36and there's no precision to what he's talking about?
12:38Two years later, we've got the same issues.
13:02His first rally as a presidential candidate was held over here at the Phoenix Convention
13:23Center.
13:24I was shocked to see offensive personal attacks on the media, particularly female reporter.
13:34This seemed to be a thing with him.
13:38But he was very effective in getting judges who I share a lot of, you know, ideological
13:47perspective or, sorry, I would say judicial, you know, views of judicial restraint.
13:52So I was very pleased to see that.
13:54And I did, yes, I voted for him in 2016.
14:03But in 2020, I was convinced that the election had been run safe and secure.
14:08And it was my duty to vote to certify that election.
14:15Bill, it's Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's lawyer.
14:18I have a few things I'd like to talk over with you.
14:20Maybe we can get this thing fixed up.
14:22You know, I really think it's a shame that Republicans sort of were both in this kind
14:26of situation.
14:28Machine counts confirmed it.
14:31Hand counts confirmed it.
14:33The court system reconfirmed it.
14:36I don't think these elected officials, any one of them, truly believed in this.
14:44They were going to literally give the president of the Senate the authority to throw us in
14:48jail because we weren't moving fast enough.
14:52Having our daughter call from college frantically and saying, Dad, are you going to jail?
14:58What is this that I'm hearing?
15:07They needed 16 votes to pass this.
15:10So that night, the 16th vote called me.
15:14Thank you, Madam President.
15:15Permission to explain my vote.
15:16Please do.
15:17Please do.
15:18My vote today is about prayerful patience.
15:22It's about resolving disagreements civilly.
15:24And these are things that I believe all of the senators can agree upon, regardless of
15:29our respective votes today.
15:3115 colleagues all voted to throw us in jail.
15:34And he stood up and said, no, I'm not going to.
15:37I mean, I'm like, we're in, you know, we're in Arizona here.
15:41And I can't believe this is happening to that this horrible thing would happen.
15:45But then also to see this courage and I mean, like, what are the odds that all this would
15:50sort of coalesce?
15:56Bill Gates, the chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, had to go to an
16:00undisclosed location in connection with death threats levied against Gates for the
16:05handling of this month's midterm election.
16:11Hush.
16:18I love you.
16:19I love you, too.
16:37I'm just, I'm an incredibly lucky guy.
16:46But this I can't do in front of on camera on your camera.
17:02I can do it on your camera only.
17:06But I can't do it on anyone else's.
17:08So sometimes, you know, I release a little bit of frustration or a little bit of emotion
17:13when I can.
17:15I certainly did last night.
17:18I have friends who know me.
17:20I'm very disappointed in what they're doing right now, the way that they're attack.
17:25I can handle it.
17:26But they're attacking this process and they know better.
17:29And I'm struggling with that.
17:31But that's all right.
17:43We're sick and tired of fake politicians.
17:46We want our country back now.
17:49How's it going down there?
17:51It's full.
17:52It's full.
17:53OK.
17:56I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for
18:03which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
18:14Everybody.
18:17Shame to hell to Maricopa County for dragging our fine Arizona straight to the toilet.
18:28Thank you very much.
18:30Next speaker is.
18:31You stand up under the Constitution of the United States of America.
18:36And without us standing up under that, we have nothing.
18:39Nothing.
18:40I had people coming out panic stricken because they were freaking out that their ballot was
18:45not accepted.
18:46They were told to throw it into the famous, infamous box number three.
18:50Those who make your peaceful revolution impossible make a violent revolution necessary.
18:57Let them be as snails that dissolve into slime.
19:01And as those who die at birth, who never see the sun, God will sweep away both old and
19:08young.
19:09The godly shall rejoice in the triumph of the right.
19:13They shall walk in the bloodstained fields of slaughtered, wicked men.
19:18Then at last, everyone will know that good is rewarded and that there is a God who judges
19:26justly here on earth.
19:31All right.
19:32So that now completes public comment.
19:34To those of you who are leaving right now, thank you so much for your time.
19:38Thank you for coming down on a Monday to testify.
19:42We appreciate it.
19:43There's one thing I want to comment on.
19:45The integrity of my colleagues up here on the dais and the integrity of Stephen Richer
19:50were questioned over and over and over again.
19:54And I know this is not my seat.
19:57This is the people's seat that I sit in.
20:00This was not a perfect election.
20:02But it was safe and secure.
20:04The votes have been counted accurately.
20:08And I thank everyone for their attention today.
20:10And with that, I would entertain a motion.
20:12Political hack jobs.
20:14Let them be on the record.
20:16You guys are horrible.
20:17I apologize.
20:18I apologize for those who are watching at home.
20:19We apologize for you and your dishonesty and your lies.
20:22Lies.
20:23Lies.
20:24Lies.
20:25You and your alternative reality.
20:27All in favor, please say aye.
20:29Aye.
20:30Aye.
20:31All opposed?
20:32The motion passes.
20:33Thank you very much, everyone.
20:34This meeting is adjourned.
20:41He said, I'm scum and deserve to be tried for treason.
20:44Every single one of you scumbags.
20:46Bill Gates, you're the biggest piece of shit in Arizona.
20:49FK you all.
20:55That's lovely.
20:59That's lovely.
21:29That's lovely.
21:59That's lovely.
22:01That's lovely.

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