Missing data, subpoena noncompliance bring Arizona election audit to a boil

The head of the Arizona Senate confirmed this week that an audit of the Maricopa County election in November has identified significant irregularities as well as missing data, with the county itself also being warned of its ongoing noncompliance with the Senate's audit subpoenas.

The dispute is likely to boil over in public next week when county election officials have been asked to testify before a Senate hearing to address the legislature's concerns.

State Senate President Karen Fann said in a Wednesday letter to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors that the Senate was seeking resolution to three "Serious issues that have arisen in the course of the Senate's ongoing audit of the returns of the November 3, 2020 general election in Maricopa County." Among those are the county's continued non-compliance with the subpoena issued by the state Senate in pursuit of the audit.

The county has claimed that the routers are used for multiple public departments outside of election management, and that allowing auditors access to the hardware could endanger the security of various classified materials.

Fann in the letter invted Maricopa County officials to a state Senate hearing on Tuesday, May 18 to resolve the issues.

A judge in February ruled that the subpoenas issued by the state Senate were valid, clearing the way for the Senate to acquire voluminous documentation from the county minus the routers the county is currently withholding.

The Arizona Secretary of State's office has criticized the Senate's handling of the audit, claiming that the digital securities firm Cyber Ninjas hired by the Senate may not be following proper security protocols in conducting the audit.

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/az-senate-president-warns-maricopa-non-compliance-irregularities-found