Arizona lawmakers believe they should take action on voter fraud based on presented evidence during the state legislator's hearing with the legal team of President Donald Trump last Monday, November 30.
Nine Arizona Republican legislators were present during the hearing held in the ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Phoenix. The lawmakers "each delivered fire-brand speeches outraged by what they had just learned by the Trump legal team", reported Chanel Rion of One America.
In an interview conducted by Rion during the said hearing, Senator-Elect Kelly Townsend expressed that there was enough evidence on hand to have a special senate session to formalize the investigations and to file corresponding actions to regain election integrity, especially in the State.
"I hope then that what we heard today would be enough to convince our leadership that we do need to open up a committee and use our subpoena power to do our own audit because I don't think any of us are confident that this was a safe and secure election," Townsend stressed.
"I think if they saw what we saw today, I don't think they would really have a choice but to act", she added, referring to the rest of her co-senators who weren't present, "So I think they would support us. I'm counting on them to support us because we do need to act and it's our obligation and our duty,"
Townsend, who has been serving the state since 2013 for its 16th Legislative District, is one of the 61 members of the Arizona's House of Representatives. She said that, having been presented with strong evidence on election irregularities, the right thing to do next is to act on the matter as a body--that is to invite the rest of the lawmakers to have a formal investigation on it.
According to the her, they would have to be in session in order for them "to actually do anything actionable on a state level". However, they are not in session now and won't "officially go in session until January".
"If we were to do anything right now, it would have to be in special session," she said before citing Arizona's Constitution Article 2, Section 1 which details how it should be done. "So the Governor is gonna be the only way right now that's workable to bring us back into special session to do the work of the state."
Townsend added that she would also be consulting constitutional lawyers if the provision provided by the US Constitution regarding setting up special sessions would supersede that which is provided by Arizona's constitution.
Speaking of the Governor, Rion asked Townsend if she thinks the leadership would really act on it considering what was already presented. The latter expressed hope on it though she was not able to deny her disappointment that the Governor, Doug Ducey, who is a Republican himself, was not present during the hearing.
"I can tell you I do not want to be the Governor today who certified this election. Apparently he received a call from the President in the middle of it and silenced him. I'm all about state rights, right. I'm all about that Arizona is a sovereign state within the Republic. I'm all about the Governor's and his authority. However, that was not good optics was it that you know the President's calling and he's certifying an election while we are simultaneously hearing from many people showing us all the various irregularities and the potential fraud. And so, you know, I don't know why we were in such a hurry. I wish he would have waited and been here and heard this," she said.
In response to Townsend's call for a special session, Ducey sternly ignored the need for it and even denied the hearing that transpired for what is what calling it merely as "a meeting." This reply came during the press conference held on COVID-19 updates.
"Hearings are at the state capital," he corrected, "First, whatever evidence was presented at the meeting should be taken to the state courthouse and due process is available. That's where you process your legal claim. The legislature will open up on January 13."
