AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
- A pro-Trump activist this week claimed voters had cast ballots from two different vacant lots.
- But records show both addresses were occupied.
- The claim was rebutted by two Maricopa County Republicans.
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Local Republican officials in Arizona issued a joint statement on Friday rebutting false claims from a pro-Trump activist that ballots had been cast from vacant lots in Maricopa County.
Earlier in the week, Liz Harris, a failed GOP candidate for state legislature, issued a document that purported to show "ghost votes" were cast from properties that were unoccupied. The cover of the report – which listed a total of two properties to support its extrapolated claim that there were more than 100,000 such votes – illustrated this by way of showing a barren lot.
But that photo was deceptive, only showing one corner of the property. On another corner sits a "single-family home," built in 2005, according to the Maricopa County Assessor's Office, led by Republican Eddie Cook.
Further, the Maricopa County Recorder's Office, led by Republican Stephen Richer, determined that four registered voters live at that home, "three of whom voted by mail" in the 2020 election, according to Friday's statement.
Richer pointed out the error earlier in the week on Twitter, leading Harris' team to issue a second edition of their document with a new cover image.
-Stephen Richer-Maricopa Cnty Recorder (prsnl acct) (@stephen_richer) September 9, 2021
But the new photo did not survive a fact check, either. In their statement, the two Republicans labeled Harris' claim as "again, false," explaining:
"This property was a mobile home property through 2020. The 'ghost vote' in question by this report turned out to be a former resident of the mobile home park and requested their ballot at a temporary address. When this voter registered in 2016, the address in question was a functional mobile home."
This is not the first time Harris has issued false claims to support the debunked narrative of a "rigged" election in Maricopa County. Home to Phoenix, President Joe Biden won the county by more than 45,000 votes, a victory certified by local Republicans who have opposed an ongoing, partisan "audit" commissioned by the state Senate.
In June, Harris asserted that hundreds of votes were cast from the same address, failing to recognize that voters who reside in apartment buildings and college dorms would all list the same residence.
The unsubstantiated claims have left the local GOP officials exasperated.
"The Maricopa County Recorder's Office and the Maricopa County Assessor's Office have repeatedly asked Ms. Harris to provide details that support the findings of her report," Richer and Cook said Friday. "While we investigate any and all allegations of wrongdoing made, we cannot do so without credible evidence being provided."
Harris did not respond to a request for comment.
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