Maricopa officials overseeing a special election in Goodyear, Arizona, requested backup voting equipment in anticipation of the Republican-led state Senate’s audit of ballots and voting materials from the November 2020 general election in the county.
Goodyear, a suburb southwest of Phoenix, contracts Maricopa County to handle its elections. The equipment will be shipped from contracted vendor Dominion Voting Systems and includes two ballot count tabulators, a server, two workstations for compiling and reporting results, and one adjudication station for a bipartisan review of ballots that can’t be scanned due to smudges or ambiguous marks, according to the Arizona Republic. The hardware will undergo logic and accuracy testing on Monday, which can be attended by county party officials, Megan Gilbertson, an Elections Department spokeswoman, told the outlet.
The city of Goodyear will have its special election on Tuesday and will only accept mail-in ballots. The ballot for the election includes 10 measures to update various articles in the city charter.
All this is happening as the GOP-controlled state Senate prepares to conduct an independent forensic audit to address concerns about election integrity, including examining voting machines to ensure no data or information was uploaded to the devices via hard drive or internet connection, despite pushback from Democrats and two audits in Maricopa County that already affirmed the results.
MARICOPA COUNTY JUDGE FINDS GOP SENATE SUBPOENAS OF ELECTION MATERIALS ARE ‘LEGAL AND ENFORCEABLE’
Last week, a judge ruled the Senate Republican’s subpoenas to audit election ballots and equipment were “legal and enforceable,” wrapping up a monthslong battle between GOP legislators and a majority-Republican county board of supervisors that previously refused to hand over materials, citing legality concerns.
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.
Still, with former President Donald Trump and his allies making claims about the potential for widespread voter fraud, which has been rejected by the courts and election officials around the country, Arizona Senate Republicans contend that performing their own audit is necessary to restoring public trust in the elections process. 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.
Confusion struck Wednesday when Senate Republicans told the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to halt its shipment of election materials, saying they wanted the audit of 2.1 million ballots to take place on county property. Some materials had already been loaded onto trucks and were awaiting delivery for the legislators’ audit when the message was delivered.
County officials contend the Senate never specified its audit was to be performed on-site and said the process of managing the Goodyear election could conflict with efforts to audit the previous election once again.
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Jack Sellers, supervisor for District 1 and board chairman, penned a letter to GOP senators on Wednesday telling them: “Please advise us when the Senate is ready to receive the subpoenaed materials and where they should be delivered. If the Senate no longer wants the materials delivered, the County stands ready to discuss next steps.”
In response, Senate President Karen Fann released a public statement saying she and Sellers would maintain close contact and develop a mutual agreement to keep ballots secure while an independent firm conducts an audit. It is not immediately clear whether the audit will commence on county property or a separate location.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Maricopa County for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
