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Pastors: Protect our voting rights

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Esteemed DOJ leadership:

We have authored this letter to request your immediate intervention in Arizona, on behalf of Black voters, who are currently being involuntarily and very likely unlawfully subjected to an “audit” of our sacred and private votes cast in the 2020 general election in Maricopa County.

The emergency deployment of federal election monitors and the opening of a criminal investigation into this unprecedented violation of federal law is paramount to the upholding of Black voters’ protections under the Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Acts.

Arizona’s state senate has hired a firm, Cyber Ninjas (and its subcontractors), to conduct this “audit.” Of equal concern to our community is this firm’s hostile positions to longstanding federal policies that protect the rights of Black people to vote and participate in elections without fear of retaliation or other acts of retribution.

Currently, 2.1 million ballots from the 2020 general election are now in the hands of this firm — including related sensitive voter data — after a local court ordered the documents to be turned over when Maricopa County officials rightfully challenged the state senate’s subpoena. There is a great deal of outrage amongst Black Voters in Arizona because the state senate has empowered itself and Cyber Ninjas to commit acts that violate federal law and do harm to Black Voters, including:

• Violating responsibilities under federal law that ballots be safeguarded and preserved against theft, defacement, destruction or other manipulations.

• Preparing or facilitating actions or an environment where actions are taken that constitute voter intimidation or other abuses prohibited by federal law.

It is absolutely the responsibility of the United States Department of Justice (and the Civil Rights Division and its Voting Section) to assert its authority and exercise it’s broad jurisdictional powers in this matter.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965, the struggles before and after it’s passage, and continuous efforts to undermine federal protections of Black voters has been the prime and moral motivation for the Department of Justice to get involved in situations like what we are now experiencing in Arizona. Swift action must be taken to halt ongoing and imminent violations of federal law and to prevent further and future violations of the rights of Black voters in Arizona. We pray you act to intercede and to investigate this matter with the urgency the dilemma demands.

The pressing concerns expressed in this letter should be considered with additional context. For example, the state senate is acting under the pretense that the 2020 general election was “stolen” or “rigged” and that widespread voter fraud occurred.

There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever to support these theories. Additionally, Maricopa County election officials have already conducted legitimate and typical audits of the 2020 general election results and found, as emphasized above, absolutely no evidence of any fraudulent election activity.

In Arizona, democracy is being held hostage and Black voters are being disenfranchised, intimidated, and enduring worrisome retaliation by being forced to be subjected to this political farce, created solely to have our sacred votes molested and voting rights abused by paid agents of chaos and sedition.

This cannot go unaddressed, and the DOJ must intervene.
We, respectfully, reiterate our request for emergency federal intervention. Please do everything you can, as quickly as you can to protect the voting rights and civil rights of Black voters in Arizona.

The situation here is urgent and Black Voters are largely defenseless against the rogue actions of the state Senate and the people in its employ seeking to undermine the 2020 general election results and the administration of the Hon. Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., our lawfully elected 46th President of the United States.

In Progress,

Rev. Jarrett Barton Maupin Jr.
Rev. Dr. Luther Holland Jr.

election audit