Maricopa County, a remaining hot zone in Arizona of 2020 election fraud claims, forcefully denied any malfeasance after images circulated online this weekend of what was alleged to be illegally shredded ballots pulled from a dumpster behind the Elections Department.
County spokeswoman Megan Gilbertson sent a statement to the Washington Examiner on Monday saying the county is aware of the images, which have been kicked around right-wing circles, but denied the materials collected were from recent elections. “Maricopa County has not, and would never destroy voted ballots until legally authorized to do so after the 24-month retention period,” she said.
“The reality is the November General Election ballots are sealed and stored in the vault, not the warehouse,” Gilbertson said. “The vault is under the watch of a 24-7 camera. None of the ballots or other General election materials from the vault were in the garbage, and as a matter of business, the county can and does throw out trash.”
SEEN Maricopa County has also seen this: Dumpster diving team of ‘patriots’ at county elections HQ posted extensive photo scrapbook of their exploits Saturday. pic.twitter.com/oryPPDHfAQ
— Brahm Resnik (@brahmresnik) March 8, 2021
ARIZONA SENATE 2020 AUDIT DRIVES MARICOPA COUNTY TO REQUEST BACKUP EQUIPMENT FOR SPECIAL ELECTION
Images of the dumpster diving were published by the far-right website Gateway Pundit, which reported a retired Purple Heart veteran, dubbed “Earl S,” is a “wanted man” after digging through the trash on county property and finding “illegally shredded ballots.”
Gilbertson said one of the individuals who found the purported shredded ballots was “dumpster diving” and said security footage shows people attempting to break into the warehouse where ballots are stored using a board taken from the dumpster. It is not clear whether the suspect was the veteran or other individuals attempting to break into the warehouse.
“Maricopa County plans to follow up with law enforcement about these activities,” she said.
County officials and Republican lawmakers have been engaged in a monthslong feud about whether to allow the GOP-led state Senate to conduct its own forensic audit of the 2020 election.
The majority-Republican Board of Supervisors in Maricopa County previously blocked and delayed any independent forensic audit conducted by the Arizona Senate Republicans of the county’s results in the 2020 presidential election.
But a judge recently found subpoenas issued by the Senate to recover county elections materials are “legal and enforceable,” and the county began the process of packaging 2.1 million ballots to be counted and analyzed in hopes the audit will restore voter confidence.
Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward issued a video statement Monday, saying, “The Arizona Senate is doing its due diligence on vetting the most qualified auditors of the 2020 election materials that we prevailed in court to gain access to.”
Her statement comes less than a week after the county was told by Senate Republicans to halt its shipment of election materials for the audit, as GOP members said recently they would prefer the audit to take place on county property.
County officials and Senate members are still working on a deal for how the audit will be conducted, though the county’s statement Monday confirms the 2020 election ballots are still being kept in storage at the department’s facility.
Following the 2020 election in Arizona, former President Donald Trump and several allies stoked concerns about potential election fraud and the potential for machine tampering. GOP senators contend Maricopa is in need of further examination to verify ballots were tabulated properly.
Maricopa County has already conducted two separate on-site audits, finding claims that Dominion machines were compromised and led to inaccurate vote counts were false.
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Dominion has vociferously denied any claims that its technology was used to rig the election in favor of President Biden and is engaged in litigation against those who made the allegations.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Arizona Republican Party and the Arizona attorney general’s office but did not immediately receive a response.
