Two GOP candidates ask judge to stop use of electronic voting machines in Arizona

Arizona state representative Mark Finchem and a Republican hopeful for governor want a judge to stop the use of voting machines in the state.

The state representative announced that attorneys representing him and Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in an existing federal court case to prevent the use of “unsecure black box electronic voting machines” in Arizona.

Finchem issued a statement Thursday on the request his lawyers filed Wednesday.

“Today, we filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to prohibit the use of these unsecure black box voting machines while the case is pending,” he wrote. “For this, the law requires us to show that (1) we are likely to succeed on the merits, (2) we will likely suffer irreparable harm if these machines are used, (3) that the balance of equities tips in our favor, and (4) that an injunction is in the public interest. The motion for a preliminary injunction includes evidence and sworn declarations from five top former military and civilian cyber and cyber-security experts.”

Finchem said that because their software is not available for the public to see, he questions their trustworthiness.

“It’s a reasonable question to ask the defendants whether they know how these electronic machines actually work,” Finchem wrote. “They are a BLACK BOX – and the voting machine companies REFUSE to make their systems and software open to the public. WHY WOULD ANYONE TRUST THEM?”

Finchem says that the lawsuit alleges security issues with electronic voting machines and what he sees as a lack of transparency in these voting systems. He says that it “violates citizens’ constitutional rights and 42 U.S. § 1983 including: the Fundamental Right to Vote in Violation of the Fourteenth Amendment; and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Guarantee of Equal Protection.”

Finchem notes that it’s not only Republicans who have expressed concerns about the “inherent vulnerabilities and insecurity of electronic voting machines” in the past. He notes that Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, have as well.

The defendants in this case include Arizona Secretary of State Kate Hobbs, as well as members of the Board of Supervisors for Maricopa and Pima Counties in their official capacities.

The defendants filed a motion to toss the case on Tuesday. Elections officials have stressed that counting the millions of ballots cast in an election by hand would slow Arizona’s results to a crawl,