Arizona City Council Member Indicted For 2020 Ballot Harvesting Scheme: AG

Gloria Lopez Torres and Nadia Guadalupe Lizarraga-Mayorquin, both of San Luis, face charges of conspiracy and ballot abuse, said the attorney general in a news release. Ballot harvesting is considered a class 6 felony.

Lopez Torres, notably, is currently a sitting San Luis Council member, according to local media.

They are accused of conducting a scheme to collect “early ballots from other voters” and deposit them in a ballot box during the state’s primary election in August 2020.

Torres is accused of collecting seven ballots from Lizarraga-Mayorquin, according to grand jury indictments (pdf) (pdf) that were returned earlier this month. Lizarraga-Mayorquin collected at least one ballot from a third party that was not disclosed.

State law only provides for a family member, household member, or caregiver to collect early ballots from another individual in Arizona, said the office of Brnovich, a Republican, in a news release.

The indictments allege that the unlawful activity started around July 12, 2020, and ran until Aug. 4, 2020—the primary election day. The Yuma County Sheriff’s Office obtained video footage of alleged ballot harvesting near a polling station in San Luis, the indictment said.

Former San Luis Mayor Guillermina Fuentes—who was serving as a local school board member—and another woman, Alma Yadira Juarez, were sentenced last week for their role in the same 2020 ballot-harvesting scheme. Fuentes, a Democrat, was ordered on Oct. 13 to turn herself into the Yuma County Jail, said Brnovich.

Both Fuentes and Juarez pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of ballot abuse.

“A group of subjects, lead by Guillermina Fuentes were seen on video manning a table and appearing to be supporting particular candidates,” the report from the Arizona Attorney General’s office said. “A female identified as Alma Juarez approached the table and made contact with a second female identified as Guillermina Fuentes. Fuentes is ultimately observed taking a ballot from Juarez.”

Since the 2020 presidential election, there have been accusations of voter fraud that swung the election out of former President Donald Trump’s favor.

Arizona has been mired in claims of voter fraud since the 2020 presidential election during which former President Donald Trump narrowly lost the state to President Joe Biden. This case, however, slightly predates that contest.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/arizona-city-council-member-indicted-2020-ballot-harvesting-scheme-ag

https://mailchi.mp/azag/two-more-defendants-indicted-in-alleged-yuma-county-ballot-harvesting-scheme?e=2bf198944b

Professor Nicholas Burns to be Lowy Institute’s 2019 Rothschild & Co Distinguished International Fellow

12 July 2019

The Lowy Institute is delighted to announce Professor Nicholas Burns as the 2019 Rothschild & Co Distinguished International Fellow. Nicholas Burns is Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School and a former diplomat. Professor Burns will visit Australia in October 2019 for a series of Lowy Institute engagements in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.

Professor Burns served in the United States government for nearly three decades and is considered to be one of the finest diplomats of his generation. He was Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 2005 to 2008; the State Department’s third-ranking official when he led negotiations on the U.S.–India Civil Nuclear Agreement; a long-term military assistance agreement with Israel; and was the lead U.S. negotiator on Iran’s nuclear program. He was a member of Secretary of State John Kerry’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board from 2014-2017. He was U.S. Ambassador to NATO (2001-2005), Ambassador to Greece (1997-2001) and State Department Spokesman (1995-1997). He worked for five years (1990–1995) on the National Security Council at the White House where he was Senior Director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia Affairs and Special Assistant to President Clinton and Director for Soviet Affairs in the Administration of President George H.W. Bush. Professor Burns also served in the American Consulate General in Jerusalem (1985-1987) where he coordinated U.S. economic assistance to the Palestinian people in the West Bank and before that, at the American embassies in Egypt and Mauritania.

The Lowy Institute’s Distinguished International Fellowship aims to deepen the debate on global issues by bringing an internationally recognised intellectual or policy leader to Australia for a series of meetings, speeches and media engagements.

Previous Distinguished International Fellows have included Dr Kurt Campbell – US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs; Stephen J. Hadley - US National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush; Shyam Saran - Foreign Secretary of India; David Ignatius – World Affairs columnist at The Washington Post; and Jake Sullivan - foreign policy advisor to Hillary Clinton.

The Lowy Institute acknowledges the generous support of Rothschild & Co for the sponsorship of the Fellowship.

https://www.lowyinstitute.org/professor-nicholas-burns-be-lowy-institute-s-2019-rothschild-co-distinguished-international-fellow

Agent of Instability: Trump’s America, with Ambassador Nicholas Burns

Episode 12: Former US Ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns talks about the instability of US foreign policy under Trump and how to recover from it, the significance of US alliances in great power competition with China, and also why he rejects former US Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ pointed criticism of Senator Joe Biden’s foreign policy record.

https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/agent-instability-trump-s-america-ambassador-nicholas-burns