Some Republicans have called for changing the filibuster rules to give the voter ID bill a path to passage.
The FBI has collected a large volume of Arizona election records from the state’s Senate as part of a grand jury investigation. The subpoena indicates a broader scope of the investigation into irregularities in the 2020 election.
The records pertain to the Arizona Senate’s 2020 audit of Maricopa County, according to a March 9 X post by the Senate’s president, Warren Petersen. The county, where nearly two-thirds of Arizonans live, has been at the center of multiple controversies, including unsuccessful litigation by multiple Republican campaigns.
The subpoena, first reported by Just the News, was confirmed to The Epoch Times by a source familiar with the investigation. The large volume of electronic data includes ballots and voter records, according to the source.
The grand jury probe may indicate a wider investigation. In January, the FBI raided election offices of Fulton County, Georgia, which covers the broader Atlanta area, as part of a criminal investigation into potential violations of federal law. Concerned citizens have discovered a plethora of problems with the county’s 2020 election. Even if the issues didn’t affect the election’s outcome, they may still amount to criminal violations, according to the search warrant’s affidavit, released last month.
The problems included chain of custody failures and duplicate ballot images, as well as incorrectly reported recount results.
The Trump administration has been moving aggressively to probe election law compliance.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing at least 29 states for voter records that contain nonpublic information, particularly driver’s license numbers and the last four digits of Social Security numbers. The DOJ stated that it has lawful authority to review the records to check for compliance with federal election laws. States, mostly those run by Democrats, have argued that various state laws and privacy concerns prevent them from sharing the data.
President Donald Trump has maintained that in 2020, victory in the election was stolen from him. His lawyers vigorously and unsuccessfully challenged the results. Since then, Republican states have significantly tightened election rules.
Trump is also pushing a sweeping election reform bill, the SAVE America Act, which would require voters to present proof of citizenship, such as a passport or a birth certificate, to register to vote. The GOP-controlled House passed the bill last month. But Senate Republicans have only 53 votes, seven short of overcoming the filibuster. They remain divided on whether to abolish the filibuster rule.
Democrats have called the bill an attempt at voter suppression.
By Petr Svab
