An AZ senator (a Repub, a Dem had issued the ethics complaint trying to stop the investigation!) might ask that the ballots be recounted in an election he lost. The primary election was counted on optical scanners and an IA computer expert had testified that there's no way to know if the machine counted correctly other than actually recounting the paper by hand. (John Gideon and VotersUnite)
Panel withdraws ethics complaint against Arizona state senator
Jan 17, 2006, 10:16 AM CST
A committee of the Arizona Legislature rejected a request to open an ethics investigation of a lawmaker's use of subpoena power in examining a close primary election.
The Senate's ethics committee voted 3-2 on Monday to withdraw a complaint against Republican Sen. Jack Harper of Sun City West that questioned whether he issued subpoenas to get information that provided a weekly newspaper with an exclusive story.
As chairman of a government accountability committee, Harper issued subpoenas to Maricopa County officials, demanding that they turn over ballots and other material from a 2004 legislative race in which a recount reversed the initial outcome.
snip
The report by Douglas Jones, an elections expert and professor at the University of Iowa, concluded that the only way to settle theories that ballots were altered or miscounted is to look at the ballots themselves.
Harper said he might use the report to seek a court order to get access to the ballots.
Link:
http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=4372270&nav=HMO6HMaWHere's a further link to an editorial by a concerned elections activist that explains the situation in AZ more clearly. It's possible that this situation could lead to greater openness and transparency at a minimum and a possible showing of machine miscouting as well. The optical scanner makers claim that they are not "calibrated" properly if they miscount.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_michael__060117_election_integrity_i.htm