The chair of the Republican Party in Maricopa County, Arizona has stepped down after it emerged she did not attend a pre-election test of the county's ballot tabulation machines.
Rae Chornenky left her position late on Tuesday, according to 12 News/KPNX TV's Brahm Resnik. Republican State Representative Kelly Townsend had publicly called for her to resign on Twitter. Chornenky had not been present at a logic and accuracy test of election equipment last month.
The equipment in question, Dominion Voting Systems, has become the subject of unsubstantiated claims about a "software glitch" in Arizona and elsewhere that changed votes from President Donald Trump to former Vice President Joe Biden. There is no evidence the machines made this error but there had been other glitches.
"I just found our that Maricopa County GOP Chairman Rae Chornenky failed to show up to certify the Dominion / Machines. For this reason, I call for her resignation, along with her 1st Vice Chair," Townsend tweeted.
A Twitter account in Rae Chornenky's name with no profile photo and just 52 followers replied to Townsend and the state representative shared the tweet to further criticize Chornenky.
"I'll tell you what, I'll resign when you sprout even an ounce of integrity and obtain the intelligence to check your facts before spreading filth about a person whom you don't know on a topic about which you have not the slightest clue," the account said, though it is not clear whether it actually belongs to Maricopa County chair.
I just found our that Maricopa County GOP Chairman Rae Chornenky failed to show up to certify the Dominion / Machines. For this reason, I call for her resignation, along with her 1st Vice Chair.
— Senator-Elect Kelly Townsend (@KellyTownsend11) November 10, 2020
"Not a surprising response. Do you want to establish publicly that I am wrong? I will be ordering the sign in sheets from the Pre-L&A [logic and accuracy], will your name be on it? Will any Republican's name be on it?" Kelly responded.
"Why were you not on top of things?" she asked.
Steven Slugocki, chairman of the Maricopa County Democratic Party, replied to Townsend's tweet with a photo of a certificate of accuracy for the county's election equipment.
"Hey @KellyTownsend11 is that what your looking for? Yep. That's my signature and no Republicans," Slugocki said.
Pictures showed Slugocki attending the pre-election check. He said both the Republican and Libertarian parties had been invited to attend but neither sent representatives.
The Maricopa County GOP's first vice chair, Linda Brickman, did not appear to have responded to Townsend's demand that she resign at the time of writing.
Biden currently leads Trump in Arizona by about 13,000 votes with 99 percent of precincts reporting. The Associated Press has called the race in favor of the Democrat.
Correction 11/11/20, 10:15 a.m. ET: This article was updated to correct the spelling of Steven Slugocki.
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Darragh Roche is a U.S. News Reporter based in Limerick, Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. politics. He has ... Read more
