Arizona you ask? Different state ...same republican BS
https://tucson.com/news/state-and-r...cle_859eaf2e-d07b-11ec-9568-af2835cc72db.html
Arizona lawmaker tries again to keep election audit records secret
Howard Fischer May 10, 2022 Updated Jun 8, 2022
PHOENIX — An attorney for Senate President Karen Fann is making a last-ditch effort to let her keep secret more than 700 records related to the audit of the 2020 election.
Legislators have broad latitude in keeping confidential the conversations they have about matters that could end up as future legislation, Kory Langhofer told the Arizona Supreme Court Tuesday. That legislative privilege, he said, is based on the premise that lawmakers and those who work for them will be more frank in their discussions if they are assured it won’t become public.
And in this case, Langhofer said, what came out of the review could result in new laws affecting how elections are conducted.
But some of the justices appeared to be less convinced by Langhofer’s argument that courts should accept, as a “question of trust” claims by lawmakers that documents or communications they say are policy discussions that need not be disclosed.
“It doesn’t allow a trial judge to fairly determine whether or not, in fact, that particular communication does fall within the proper ambit of legislative privilege,’’ said Justice William Montgomery. “I don’t think it helps a trial court judge if the Legislature or any particular party reaches the ultimate legal conclusion that ‘this is not something you need to worry about.’ ‘’
Andy Gaona, arguing for American Oversight, which has sued for the records, said such a conclusion would leave groups like his without an ability to seek judicial review when a public body withholds records on some claim of privilege.
“We have no idea of exactly what is being withheld here,” he told the justices. And that makes it impossible for anyone seeking records to make the case in court that records are being wrongfully withheld.
Arizona’s public records law does not require those seeking documents or communications to prove that they are, in fact, public, Gaona said.
“The burden is on the public body to establish that a record that is presumptively public … should be withheld because it is detrimental to the best interests of the state,” he said.
That point was not lost on Montgomery who also noted that the Legislature, in adopting the public records law, did not exempt itself from its provisions.
What the justices ultimately decide will affect more than those disputed audit records. It will create new legal precedents that will govern all future public records requests of all agencies at all levels of government.
Fann, a Prescott Republican,
ordered the audit after official election results — certified by state officials, including Gov. Doug Ducey — showed that Democrat Joe Biden beat Republican Donald Trump by 10,457 votes in the state. And that was fueled in large part by Biden beating Trump in Maricopa County by 45,109 votes.
There were charges of irregularities — all unproven — including that the Dominion Voting System hardware and software used was either programmed or hacked in a way to move Trump votes into the Biden column.
Fann said at the time she ordered the audit to address concerns of constituents.
As it turned out, Cyber Ninjas, the firm Republic lawmakers hired for the audit,
reported that its own hand count of Maricopa ballots confirmed Biden’s win — and by a slightly larger margin than the official count.
American Oversight, a nonpartisan watchdog group, sued for documents related to the audit.
The Senate surrendered some. But it claimed a right to withhold various documents, including all the communications involving Fann, Sen. Warren Petersen who chairs the Judiciary Committee, the liaisons Fann chose to interact with Cyber Ninjas and even communications with that company and its own subvendors.
A trial judge and the state Court of Appeals both rejected the Senate’s arguments, leading to Tuesday’s Supreme Court hearing.