PHOENIX – Today, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes released documents related to the investigations into the handling of the 2020 election in Arizona.
Despite Arizona Attorney General Office (AAGO) agents and support staff spending over 10,000 hours investigating voting irregularities and alleged instances of illegal voting by high-profile election deniers, a September 2022 summary prepared by AAGO's Special Investigations Section stated:
In each instance and in each matter, the aforementioned parties did not provide any evidence to support their allegations. The information that was provided was speculative in many instances and when investigated by our agents and support staff, was found to be inaccurate.
Complaints and allegations submitted to the Arizona Attorney General’s office by members of the public were also largely unsupported by factual evidence or found to be mischaracterizations when researched by agents and support staff.
These allegations included the counting of duplicate votes, satellites controlled by the Italian military changing votes to favor President Biden, bamboo ballots, and dead people voting in numbers that affected the outcome of the election, among others.
“The results of this exhaustive and extensive investigation show what we have suspected for over two years – the 2020 election in Arizona was conducted fairly and accurately by elections officials,” said Attorney General Kris Mayes. “The ten thousand plus hours spent diligently investigating every conspiracy theory under the sun distracted this office from its core mission of protecting the people of Arizona from real crime and fraud.”
And while a small number of cases were submitted for prosecution review due to these investigations, these numbers align with historical trends. They do not indicate widespread fraud or conspiracy related to the 2020 election.
“Voter fraud is rare, and instances should be handled according to applicable laws when they do occur,” continued Attorney General Mayes. “But it is time to work together to defend American democracy and uphold the rule of law. It’s time for the divisiveness to stop, and it’s time for our country to heal.”
Documents:
March 8, 2022 Previously Unreleased Interim Findings Summary
April 1, 2022 Draft of Interim Report with edits and suggestions made by AAGO agents
September 19, 2022 Previously Unreleased Investigative Summary