Confusion as Arizona Senate abruptly informs Maricopa County to hold transfer of materials for election audit

“To comply with the Senate’s subpoena, we’re readying all 2.1 million ballots to transfer to the Senate’s custody. This includes documenting manifest logs, chain of custody reports and tamper evident seals,” the department said in a thread. “Each box remains sealed, in compliance with state statute, and can be traced with tracking and batch numbers created when the boxes were initially sealed in November. This is all done under camera with multiple staff members present.”

However, this may have been all for naught as the Senate indicated a desire to have the audit conducted in house at the county office.

“The Senate attorney made it clear that we expected to do the audit at the County, where the first two audits occurred. The other option would be to wait until the Senate can find proper storage for the material. No one can seem to get an answer from the County on why they are moving materials now,” the Arizona Republican Party Senate Caucus said, according to a local Fox affiliate.

MARICOPA COUNTY JUDGE FINDS GOP SENATE SUBPOENAS OF ELECTION MATERIALS ARE ‘LEGAL AND ENFORCEABLE’

Attorneys representing the Arizona Senate also requested Maricopa County for a delay in its compliance of supplying materials, a local ABC affiliate reported. “The Senate’s preference is to maintain the materials in the county’s facility,” attorney Kory Langhofer said in an email obtained by KJZZ. Langhofer also wrote Senate GOP members are hoping to settle on a deal “in the next few days.”

Republicans released a statement by Arizona Senate President Karen Fann on Wednesday afternoon, saying, “We were shocked when we were told that attorneys for the Maricopa County Board recommended doing something like this, potentially breaking the chain of custody of the ballots.”

Fann said Senate attorneys “immediately” contacted the county to urge that the materials stay in their office to have auditors conduct their work on-site.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Timothy Thomason ruled on Feb. 27 that the GOP-controlled state Senate’s subpoenas are “legal and enforceable” and could access ballots and election equipment for its attempt to audit the 2020 election results. The county did not appeal the judge’s ruling, signaling it would fulfill the demands from the subpoenas.

In response to the GOP Senate Caucus, Maricopa County officials said the subpoena does not command the audit to be done on county property. The county prepared, sealed, and arranged 73 pallets, holding tens of thousands of physical ballots under the Senate’s demand and court order to produce them to the Senate.

Maricopa County Communications Director Fields Moseley sent a statement to the Washington Examiner, saying the county invited legislators to participate in observing two previous audits conducted over the 2020 election.

“The Board has serious concerns about allowing anyone other than Election Department and County Recorder staff into sensitive areas during the current Goodyear election and other municipal elections scheduled during 2021,” Moseley said on behalf of the board.

One Democratic lawmaker said the county should have appealed and raised concerns about the security of the ballots.

“You asked for these ballots. Now what’s the plan Karen Fann? As one of the 2.1 million voters in the county, I have a RIGHT to know what is going to happen to my ballot. This is why Maricopa County should have appealed,” tweeted state Rep. Athena Salman.

Once transferred to the Senate, the legislative body would be responsible for the care and security of the ballots cast in the 2020 election, which was previously the responsibility of the county.

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, which is composed of one Democratic and four Republican members, held a closed-door meeting on Tuesday to discuss the situation of preparing ballots for the Republican Senate’s audit, which has been demanded since mid-December. Senate Republicans reissued subpoenas in January to obtain election materials from the Nov. 3 election.

Former President Donald Trump lost Arizona in the general election and in Maricopa County, the largest county, which includes Phoenix, lost by nearly 43,779 votes. Some Republicans in the state joined the president in questioning the results and demanding investigations to root out potential fraud.

Results from two of the county election official’s forensic audit found there was no evidence of voting machines compromised during the election and further affirmed the legitimacy of the results of the Nov. 3 election.

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Senate Republicans contend they need to conduct their own forensic audit to verify the integrity of the voting process, though their process could be delayed until the Senate finds a secure location to store the election materials.

No official audit firm has been confirmed by the Senate, though earlier reports noted it was considering the controversial Allied Security Operations Group, which conducted Michigan’s Antrim County audit. Dominion officials bashed the firm for inaccuracies, and the Michigan Department of State accused the team that conducted the analysis of participating in a “cover-up.”

The Washington Examiner reached out to the GOP Senate Caucus and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors but did not immediately receive a response.