Arizona Senate Issues Fresh Subpoena For 2020 Election Audit
Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,
Arizona senators on Monday issued a new subpoena to the state’s largest county for materials related to the 2020 election.
Arizona Senate President Karen Fann and Arizona Senate Judiciary Chairman Warren Petersen ordered Maricopa County’s Board of Supervisors to hand over ballot envelopes or ballot envelope images, voter records, and routers or router images.
The Republican-controlled board was also commanded to provide all findings concerning any systems breach that took place within six months of the Nov. 3, 2020, election, as well as all usernames and passwords for machines used in the election.
And the board was also told to appear at the Arizona State Capitol for a hearing on Aug. 2.
Failure to comply may constitute contempt of the legislature, the board was told.
A board spokesman told news outlets that the county “has already provided everything competent auditors would need to confirm the accuracy and security of the 2020 election.”
“The board will review the materials requested with our legal team and respond in the coming days,” he added.
Contractors hired by the GOP-controlled state Senate have been conducting an audit of the 2020 election in Maricopa County since April. The county submitted the nearly 2.1 million ballots cast in the election, as well as 385 tabulators and other items.
Those were ordered by subpoenas issued late last year.
But officials also refused to provide some of the subpoenaed items, despite a judge ruling the subpoenas lawful after the county claimed they were overbroad and outside the scope of the Arizona Senate’s authority.
County officials said in May they could not hand over routers or router images because doing so would pose a security risk.
Arizona senators initially threatened to issue a fresh subpoena then. It’s not clear what took so long.
The Arizona Senate in February, before the judge ruled on the matter, voted on a resolution to hold the county in contempt. One Republican, state Sen. Paul Boyer, sided with Democrats, preventing the resolution from passing.
Republicans control the Senate, 16–14.
Boyer recently came out in opposition to the audit, after previously supporting it.
So did another Republican, Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita.
“I wanted to review our election processes and see what, if anything, could be improved. Sadly, it’s now become clear that the audit has been botched,” Ugenti-Rita said on Twitter.
She was booed off the stage over the weekend at a conservative event after her shift.
Boyer and Ugenti-Rita have not responded to requests for comment.
Arizona Sen. Wendy Rogers, a Republican who still backs the audit, told The Epoch Times that she thinks the breakaway Republicans will eventually support the review again.
“I believe both of those colleagues of mine and Democrats will see all of the data points for what they will show and will eventually get on to the right side of history,” she said.
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