Members of the Fountain Hills Republican Club (FHRC) moved through the forest of Christmas trees at the Community Center to visit first with each other and then to participate in something of a debrief of the Nov. 8 election.

Executive Director of the Republican Party of Arizona Pam Kirby laid out some of the steps that Chairman Kelli Ward’s team had taken to get out the Republican vote before and on election day.

Kirby talked about the problems with the Maricopa County on-site printers that did not work on election day and mentioned that after a mandatory recount, due to very narrow margin of votes between the two candidates, she would not be surprised if the results of the Arizona Attorney General position landed in the election of Abe Hamedeh.

She also thanked the many who had worked on election day and beyond to make certain all legitimate votes were counted.

According to Chris Brant, an FHRC spokesperson, one of the attendees at the Republican Club spoke for several frustrated people who voted on election day.

“Officially online his vote was ‘counted’ but that was before it went into Box 3 of the Maricopa County Recorder’s election equipment,” Brant said. “His ballot was then gathered together prematurely along with numerous other’s ballots as the Box 3s quickly overflowed. Usually, the passage of ballots is securely guarded by members of the two main parties. In this ad-lib situation, they were not.

“It is without saying, that in 2022 it is disgraceful that the County Recorder’s printers did not work on election day. With all the suspicion of security of ballots in 2018 and 2020 elections that the County Recorder’s printers didn’t work is disastrous and surely providing Steve Richer, the County Recorder, with nightmares,” Brant said.

One of the issues that the other guest speaker, Nancy Ordowski, first vice chairman for the MRCRC and Legislature District 3, focused on was the extra cost of having access to the polling stations being open for so many days.

“She questioned the audience, ‘Is it really suppressing the vote if the electorate has only four days to turn in their ballot?’” Brant said.

Another spokesperson for the FHRC was a Marshall when the town was electing the Fountain Hills Sanitary District. He stated that he and five other paid individuals sat around for five days for a total of only seven individuals physically voting.

“What a waste of taxpayers’ money,” Brant continued.

Ordowski also talked about the repercussions of the November election. She asked that with the make-up of the elected officials, “Will we see any important election reforms in the next four years?”

A suggestion was placed that perhaps an emergency legislature session could be held to pass commonsense election reform for Governor Doug Ducey to sign. The governor is the only one who could call for such a session.

It was suggested that attendees might wish to contact Ducey (email: engage@az.gov or 602-542-4331) and appeal to his potential legacy of stewardship.

Other elected officials who had a few words they wished to share, starting with the newly re-elected Congressman David Schweikert.

“He was very frank and promised to return soon to meet with the club members to remove any sugar coating and talk bluntly about the future,” Brant said.

Libby Settle thanked everyone for their support at the polls and Gerry Friedel and Allen Skillicorn made it clear that they were going to support the schools and do their part in encouraging residents’ children to return to the local school system in Fountain Hills under the leadership of Dr. Cain Jagodzinski.

The 9:30 a.m. get-together on the first Saturday of each month at the Sun Baked Food 4 The Soul, 16842 E. Parkview Ave., Suite 1, will continue giving fellow Republicans and Independents a chance to meet socially. The next get-together will be on Saturday, Dec. 3.

For further details visit fountainhillsrepublicanclub.com or facebook.com/FountainHillsRepublicanClub.