Republican state senators sued Maricopa County with the hope of getting a judge to force officials to comply with subpoenas from the state legislature demanding they turn over election materials.
The suit, which was filed on Monday by Senate President Karen Fann and Sen. Eddie Farnsworth, is the latest legal effort amid a standoff between local officials and legislators, who have said they want to conduct their own audit of Maricopa County’s election tabulation, even though there has already been a hand count audit, according to Arizona Central.
Farnsworth, the chairman of the state’s Senate Judiciary Committee, sent two subpoenas to the county last week. Instead of complying by the Friday deadline he set, the county filed a lawsuit to squash the subpoena, arguing that they weren’t valid and should be considered a “draconian abuse of power,” prompting Farnsworth and Fann’s countersuit.
“The Arizona Legislature, through a subpoena duly executed by a presiding officer or committee chairman of either house, may demand of any person the production of any document or record with respect to any subject matter,” the lawsuit said.
Following a virtual hearing last week where 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.
A superior court judge set a hearing for Wednesday afternoon.
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 of being involved in a massive voter fraud scheme, billing them as being part of a “disinformation” effort.
County officials have expressed willingness to hold third-party audits of the election once litigation concludes but voiced concern about how private information of voters would be handled should it have complied with the subpoenas.
Trump has refused to concede even though the Electoral College voted to affirm Biden’s victory. The president, his campaign, and many state GOP officials have claimed the election was rigged against Trump and claim he won many battleground states, such as Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Georgia, even though all of them went to the former vice president.
