Maricopa County Will Replace All Voting Machines After Audit

by Laura Ramirez

Arizona’s Maricopa County announced that all voting machines subpoenaed by the state Senate for the 2020 presidential election audit will be replaced for future elections.

“Maricopa County will never use compromised equipment that could pose a risk to free and fair elections. As a result, the County will not use the tabulation equipment subpoenaed by the Arizona Senate in any future elections,” the county’s official Twitter account wrote on Twitter.

The county decision comes after the legislature seized multiple Dominion Voting Systems machines, about 2.1 million ballots, and voter information for the election recount, The Hill reported.

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, in late May issued a letter to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors expressing concerns about the county’s “election equipment that was turned over to Senate President Karen Fann and Senator Warren Petersen and their agent, Cyber Ninjas, pursuant to the January 12, 2021 subpoena, including components of the certified Dominion Democracy Suite 5.5B voting system.”

Cyber Ninjas is a Florida-based independent technology firm, hired by Arizona’s Republican-controlled Senate, to aid with the audit.

“Grave concerns regarding the security and integrity of these machines, given that the chain of custody, a critical security tenet, has been compromised and election officials do not know what was done to the machines while under Cyber Ninjas’ control,” the letter continued.

In a response letter to Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors affirmed that they too shared her concerns about the possibility of Dominion Voting Systems machines and ballots being tampered with during the election audit.

“The Board shares your concerns. It also recognizes your authority as Arizona’s Chief Election
Officer to determine what equipment is acceptable for use in Arizona’s elections, as provided by A.R.S. § 16-442,” Hobbs wrote. “Accordingly, I write to notify you that Maricopa County will not use the
subpoenaed election equipment in any future election.”

The Epoch Times reported that Senate Majority Leader Karen Fann described the county’s decision as another “attack on the audit,” and reassured that machines were not tampered with during the audit.

“We asked numerous times for this audit to be performed jointly with Maricopa County, at their facility, selecting a mutual auditor, and did not want the ballots or machines moved from their facilities,” Fann said referring to Hobbs claims.

The outlet revealed that other GOP members applauded the decision to replace voting machines, although for entirely different reasons than the ones stated by the county’s board of supervisors and Arizona’s secretary of state.

State Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Ariz., tweeted “I 2nd this. No more machines. They are too much of a liability and can be hacked/manipulated.”

“Go back to the old way,” she added.

Maricopa County in a press release assured citizens “the County will never use equipment that could pose a risk to free and fair elections.”

“The Board of Supervisors, Elections Department and Recorder’s Office are working with our current vendor to replace the subpoenaed equipment so we will be able to serve voters for the November 2021 election,” the statement reads.

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