Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jack Sellers rejected claims made about the controversial audit of the 2020 election, demanding a retraction of public statements about the suspected destruction of evidence.
Arizona Senate President Karen Fann, the leader of the Republican-majority Senate, wrote an open letter to the board on Wednesday evening informing them the auditors discovered three main “serious issues,” claiming there was noncompliance of the legislative subpoena, chain of custody issues with the ballots, and evidence of database files being removed from the Election Management System computer.
“After reviewing the letter with County election and IT experts, I can say the allegations are false and ill-informed,” Sellers, who is a Republican, wrote in a statement.
“Moreover, the claim that our employees deleted election files and destroyed evidence is outrageous, completely baseless and beneath the dignity of the Arizona Senate. I demand an immediate retraction of any public statements made to the news media and spread via Twitter,” Sellers added.
Maricopa Arizona Audit, which asserts to be the official account for the 2020 election review, accused county election officials of deleting files off a server before it was delivered, a claim to which Sellers directly responded: “That would be a crime – and it is not true.”
https://twitter.com/ArizonaAudit/status/1392656033496006656
ARIZONA SENATE QUESTIONS WHETHER MARICOPA COUNTY ERASED KEY ELECTION FILES
Fann’s letter was published shortly after Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a stern critic of the Senate-led audit, raised concerns after one of her observers saw a Wi-Fi router connected to audit servers on Tuesday, which could jeopardize the security of election information. Maricopa Arizona Audit shot back: “No wireless was ever enabled.”
The Senate president also requested county officials to agree to a meeting at the state Capitol on May 18 to discuss the auditor’s concerns, suggesting the meeting as an alternative to the Senate’s previous threats to file additional subpoenas against the entire five-member board and Sheriff Paul Penzone, who is a Democrat.
A judge ruled previous subpoenas issued by the Senate were “legal and enforceable,” after which the county granted access to its elections materials for the audit, which is being led by Cyber Ninjas, a Florida-based firm.
The largely Republican board released a statement on Twitter on Friday afternoon, saying, “The 2 independent audits conducted by the County are the true final word on the subject. We know auditing. The Senate Cyber Ninja audit is not a real audit.”
At least one member of the board has declined attending Fann’s suggested meeting. “I absolutely am not going to come down on Tuesday,” Clint Hickman, a Republican member of the board, told KTAR News.
Another Republican member of the board, Bill Gates, sharply criticized the GOP Senate-led audit, raising concerns that Republicans alleging widespread voter fraud “will do lasting damage to our republic.”
“If Republicans become the party of the ‘Big Lie’ — if we encourage this madness much longer — we will lose credibility with the majority of Americans on issues where I believe we have better ideas,” Gates added.
Former President Donald Trump, who has made claims about widespread fraud in the 2020 election and lauded the efforts by the Republican Senate-led audit, which includes looking at the 2.1 million ballots cast in the county’s election, released a statement on Thursday promoting Fann’s letter.
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The audit will pause starting Friday due to previously scheduled high school graduation ceremonies at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where the ballots are being counted and election equipment is inspected. The audit is set to resume May 24.
