The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted to fight a pair of election subpoenas served by a top Arizona state senator this week.
Members voted 4-1 on Friday in favor of filing a complaint to an Arizona court, challenging two subpoenas issued to them by Eddie Farnsworth, the Republican chairman of the state Senate Judiciary Committee.
“I am disappointed in the Senate Judiciary chair,” said supervisor Steve Gallardo, a Democrat who noted his public service with Farnsworth during the board meeting. “I am very disappointed of the subpoenas that were sent over to the county. I believe he knows better. He’s an attorney, a very experienced lawmaker. He’s been there for a very long time. And he’s very smart. I’ll be the first to say he is one of … the most smartest members of the legislature walking down there. And he knows better.”
The board expressed willingness to hold third-party audits of the election once litigation concludes, but it voiced concern about how the private information of voters would be handled should it have complied with the subpoenas.
“Let’s be clear, these subpoenas that have been issued and are before this body are truly extraordinary in the breadth of information that they’re looking for,” said supervisor Bill Gates, who identified as a “conservative.”
“I feel strongly about individual private information, of individuals, of voters, and that information has been requested in these subpoenas. I’m going to fight to protect that information before we turn it over,” Gates continued.
Chairman Clint Hickman, who testified before the Arizona state Senate to answer questions on how the elections were held in Maricopa County, and Vice Chairman Jack Sellers agreed with the motion. Hickman said the subpoenas were like a “slap in the face” after testifying before the Senate.
“None of those questions or concerns that they served on us were asked about, with those subpoenas and what drove those,” Hickman said.
Supervisor Steve Chucri, the only member of the board to dissent, opposed the motion to fight the subpoenas because he thought it should be “coupled” with a motion of an audit.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Farnsworth’s office and the Arizona State Senate Republican Caucus for comment on the development.
On Tuesday, Arizona state Senate President Karen Fann announced that Farnsworth would issue two election subpoenas to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.
“Today, under my direction as Senate President, Judiciary Committee Chairman Eddie Farnsworth issued subpoenas to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors,” Fann said in the statement obtained by the Washington Examiner. “One subpoena calls for a scanned ballot audit, to collect an electronic ballot image cast for all mail-in ballots counted in the November 2020 general election in Maricopa County, Arizona. The second subpoena calls for a full forensic audit of ballot tabulation equipment, the software for that equipment and the election management system used in the 2020 general election.”
Fann added: “The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors were served these subpoenas on Tuesday afternoon, and they call for the information to be delivered to the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman on or before 5 p.m. on December 18, 2020. I appreciate Board Chairman Clint Hickman’s commitment to the integrity of the Arizona election process, and I know he shares all of our concerns.”
Following a virtual hearing on Monday in which officials defended the integrity of the election, Farnsworth said a review of voting equipment and software would address allegations of election fraud and go a long way toward “restoring the confidence” in the election process.
President Trump and his allies claim Dominion Voting Systems machines allowed for votes to be improperly switched to President-elect Joe Biden. Dominion Voting Systems, which had its machines used in Maricopa County and in other places across the country, has vociferously denied the allegations about the company being involved in a massive voter fraud scheme, billing them as being part of a “disinformation” effort.
In a lawsuit in Antrim, Michigan, a judge on Monday allowed the release of a report from a forensic analysis of Dominion equipment by a cyber firm, Allied Security Operations Group, which has assisted Trump and his allies in their unsuccessful ventures in court to overturn the results in battleground states. Michigan state and company officials disputed the report that said the equipment “is intentionally and purposefully designed with inherent errors to create systemic fraud and influence election results.”
On Thursday, Antrim County, an area in which Dominion Voting Systems was used in the 2020 election, completed an audit of the 15,962 votes cast. Trump, whose victory in that small northern Michigan town was affirmed, netted a dozen votes, but the result had no bearing on the final result. President-elect Joe Biden won the state of Michigan and its 16 Electoral College votes by roughly 150,000 ballots.
Out of the total votes cast in Antrim County, 9,747 were won by Trump and 5,960 went to Biden, according to the certified results. A bipartisan team of clerks joined the Antrim County Clerk’s Office and the Michigan Bureau of Elections to conduct the “risk limiting audit.” In a tweet on Thursday, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said the audit “confirmed the truth and affirmed the facts” of the election.
“Dominion’s voting machines accurately tabulated votes cast for President. Now it’s time for the disinformation campaigns to end, and for all leaders to unequivocally affirm the Nov election was secure, accurate & fair,” Benson wrote in the tweet.
The Electoral College certified Biden’s victory on Monday, but in some states won by the Democrat, including Arizona, the GOP convened its own electors for Trump. Election law experts said these votes have no legal meaning, but participating Republicans said they are preparing for the possibility of the results being overturned in court, and Arizona lawmakers called on Congress to accept the alternative slate of 11 electors or nullify the electoral votes until a full forensic audit can be conducted.
On Jan. 6, Congress will perform its constitutional obligation to count and certify the votes of the Electoral College, but lawmakers do have the ability to object to the votes. For that objection to be honored, it must be written by hand and signed by both a member of the House and a member of the Senate. However, it is unlikely the objections lead to a change in the election results in Trump’s favor, with the House in Democratic control and many Republican senators acknowledging Biden as the victor.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told his fellow Republicans in a telephone conference call not to block Biden’s win, and no GOP member on the call reportedly objected to McConnell’s request.
