Most states have been now held their party primaries for this year's
elections, but many are still dealing with the fallout of the 2020
presidential election.
That includes investigations into efforts to overturn the 2020 results
and challenges to new election laws. Lisa Desjardin is here with
an update.
This election year. Just like in 2020 all eyes are on a handful of
key battleground states. That's where we turn our focus with two
reporters covering the story. Stephen Fowler is a political reporter
for Georgia Public Broadcasting, and Andrew Oxford is a reporter
at Arizona Public Media.
Let's start in Georgia with you, Stephen Fowler. And let's look at
the list of people subpoenaed just yesterday in the Fulton County
grand jury investigation of the 2020 election. You see their top
trump officials like attorney Rudy Giuliani, some allies like then
Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham.
Others involved in a phone call to state officials from President
Trump and others.
Stephen Fowler. What do you think these subpoenas mean? And what
do they tell us about this case?
Well, it sends a pretty clear message about what this special grand
jury and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis are looking
for, as they continue to investigate efforts to overturn the 2020
election in Georgia.
Much of the figures that have been subpoenaed appeared at a December
2020 unofficial hearing of the Georgia state Legislature, where nobody
was under oath. Nobody was compelled to tell the truth, and a lot
of falsehoods were shared about Georgia's election, particularly
vote counting in Fulton County State Farm Arena.
And there were several video clips that were played. That turned
out to be debunked. But the people in these subpoenas still push
those claims. And that's some of what the investigators are looking
at.
We already know. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, for example,
has said he is not going to cooperate with the subpoena. He calls
this politics. What do we know about what's ahead here in this fight
and the timeline in this case?
Well, it is moving relatively quickly. The special grand jury was
impaneled in May. They've been hearing from testimony from everyone
from Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to Democratic
state lawmakers that were present in those hearings and much like
what we're seeing in Washington, D. C with the January 6th committee
hearings.
Prosecutors and the grand jury are building things from the ground
up. A very foundational level. Investigation into many of the claims
made many potential crimes that were committed and we could see this
accelerate rapidly.
All right. Let's move West Subpoenas also in Arizona just last week
where you are Andrew Oxford. We've seen these Republican officials
last week. This time by the FBI. We see are two state senators, Karen
Fan and Kelly Townsend be subpoenaed.
Tell us who are these lawmakers? And what is the FBI looking for
here?
Karen fan is the leader of the state Senate. She's a Republican from
Prescott and Kelly Townsend is a Republican from the Mesa area from
Apache Junction.
And the Kelly Townsend told 12 News here in Arizona that the subpoena
she received was seeking communications between her and Trump's lawyers.
We already know of course, that
Trump's attorneys like Rudy Giuliani were in touch with leading Arizona
lawmakers after the 2020 election as lawmakers
either joined calls or face mounting calls to overturn the results
of the presidential election here. In fact, Senate President Karen
Fan told the constituent in December 2020 and an email
That she had multiple conversations with Rudy Giuliani. So I think
it will be interesting to see if these subpoenas reveal anything
new about that. That sort of communication about the pressure campaign
that lawmakers were facing or participating in President. Fan has
downplayed the significance of this subpoena, though she said that
it's seeking documents and communications that others have already
requested through public records laws.
This is all a lot to keep track of. We've just talked about different
investigations about the election. But there at the same time is
a lawsuit. Now in your state in Arizona, the Department of Justice
is suing the state over its new election law and to remind viewers
the law isn't all that simple. But here are some of the points that
the Justice Department is looking at that the law would require voters
to bring documents proving citizenship. They would have to check
a citizenship box.
And fill in their place of birth. Andrew, help us out what is the
legal back and forth over this law?
Right, so Arizona already requires voters to provide proof of citizenship
when they register. If they don't they still have a right, of course
to cast a ballot in federal elections to vote for president to vote
for members of Congress.
This new law passed on a party line vote in the legislature earlier
this year and signed by Governor Ducey requires election officials
to verify the citizenship of those voters who haven't provided proof
of citizenship.
And it says that if you if you don't provide proof of citizenship,
you can't vote for president and you can't vote by mail. The Department
of Justice says that this violates the National Voting Rights Act.
The U. S Supreme Court is actually already taken up a similar policy
in Arizona about a decade ago in a case here.
So, in fact, staff at the Legislature have warned that the Legislature
would likely end up in this position of facing challenges to this
law in committee hearings as lawmakers are debating it. Attorneys
warned that this could violate federal law. As one lawmaker said,
though they believe this is a fight worth having. And I think it's
perhaps worth looking at this whole back and forth.
As really an effort by some Republican lawmakers to challenge broader
national voting rights laws to support this all up. I want to ask
both of you. You're there on the ground you've been watching and
covering how your state votes and the controversy around how your
states have voted.
I want to start with you, Stephen. But ask both of you. Where do
things stand Right now? Georgia's election law has been challenged.
Numerous different lawsuits have been filed for the different parts
of the 98 page law that we had here.
And so far, it's been a slow moving process. We did just recently
have a federal judge deny a preliminary injunction to block part
of Georgia's law dealing with third party absentee ballot applications.
But Lisa, we are running up close to a time when federal courts don't
normally like to change election laws because we have preparations
happening very, very soon for the November race, so it's unlikely
that Georgia's election laws will change anytime before Voters head
to the polls.
Andrew What about in Arizona? I think we'll get a good sense of that
next month when Republican primary voters have some really
Big choices to make about who they want to elevate to, or nominate
for election officials. The secretary of state's race, for example,
a key role in setting election policy in running the state's elections,
You have candidates running on his endorsement from Donald Trump.
And candidates trying to strike a more moderate tone, even at local
levels. I think you'll see Republican primary voters weighing in
about the direction they want, not just the state to go about how
they want elections to be run into the future here. Rusty Bowers,
the House speaker, who was testifying in front of the
January. 6th committee is running for state Senate and has a primary
challenger who is touting his support for Donald Trump. So you'll
see, I think a pretty good indication of which way the base of the
party wants to go here.
In the coming month. Stephen Fowler and Andrew Oxford, our expert