
PHOENIX (AP) – The U.S. Department of Justice says it is concerned about ballot security and potential voter intimidation arising from the Republican-controlled Arizona Senate’s unprecedented private recount of the 2020 presidential election results in Maricopa County. The head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a letter to GOP Senate President Karen Fann that the Senate’s farming out of 2.1 million ballots to a contractor may run afoul of federal law requiring ballots to remain in the control of elections officials. And the letter said the Senate’s plans to directly contact voters may violate federal laws banning voter intimidation.