Arizona’s Maricopa County will be replacing all of the voting machines that were turned over to officials overseeing the 2020 presidential election audit.
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors made the announcement in a letter to Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D).
Hobbs had written a letter in May saying she had “grave concerns regarding the security and integrity of these machines.”
Her concern revolved around the inability to “know what was done to the machines” while under control of the firm overseeing the audit, “given that the chain of custody, a critical security tenet, has been compromised.”
Arizona’s top elections official says voting machines shouldn’t be used after they were given to state Senate Republicans for an audit of 2020 election results. Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs says she worries about the integrity of the machines. https://t.co/Vp2zk0cfnF
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 21, 2021
RELATED: Arizona AG Warns Biden DOJ To Stay Out Of State’s Election Audit
Voting Machines to Be Replaced After Election Audit
Maricopa County said in a letter to Hobbs that it “shares your concerns” and recognizes her “authority as Arizona’s Chief Election Officer to determine what equipment is acceptable for use in Arizona’s elections.”
Following the Arizona state election audit, according to the letter, they “will not use the subpoenaed election equipment in any future election.”
Arizona’s Maricopa County to replace all voting machines after GOP audit https://t.co/FEi6cU2rAo pic.twitter.com/counU0Zx7u
— The Hill (@thehill) June 29, 2021
To be clear, Hobbs’ concerns are with the company overseeing the election audit, spurred on by Republicans in the state who expressed concerns over the validity and integrity of the county’s election results, having possibly tampered with the machines.
That firm, she suggests, violated the chain of custody which “constitutes a cyber incident to critical infrastructure—an event that could jeopardize the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of digital information or information systems.”
In a press release announcing their decision, Maricopa county stated they would “never use equipment that could pose a risk to free and fair elections.”
For months the media has assured us the voting machines are so secure they can’t be tampered with. Now they insist #Maricopa needs to swap out all its machines because the audit company could have tampered with them #ArizonaAudit
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) June 29, 2021
RELATED: Trump Tells Hannity: ‘We Didn’t Win’ The 2020 Election
Arizona’s Election Audit
Earlier this month, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sent a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) warning them that the state “will not tolerate” any effort to interfere in the ongoing Maricopa County election audit.
Critics have defined the so-called audit as ‘partisan‘ or ‘fraudulent,’ warning that it should not be considered a legitimate effort.
Hobbs herself has indicated she has “no confidence” in the audit and that “everything is tied to the 2020 election and the big lie.”
Still, Brnovich blasted the DOJ for indicating they would “ensure” the Maricopa County election audit would “abide by federal statutory requirements to protect election records and avoid the intimidation of voters.”
Brnovich indicated the department was more concerned with “supporting the hysterical outcries of leftist pundits on cable television, rather than the rule of law.”
Arizona AG @GeneralBrnovich defends Maricopa vote audit against ‘hysterical’ Justice criticism.
DoJ ‘more interested in supporting the hysterical outcries of leftist pundits on cable television, rather than the rule of law.’https://t.co/vP4i2IEgTj pic.twitter.com/ngEhU5tK7F
— Paul Bedard (@SecretsBedard) June 14, 2021
“My office is not amused by the DOJ’s posturing and will not tolerate any effort to undermine or interfere with our State Senate’s audit to reassure Arizonans of the accuracy of our elections,” said Brnovich.
Former President Trump recently appeared to admit to Fox News host Sean Hannity that he didn’t win the 2020 election, despite the ongoing audit.
“We got 75 million votes, and we didn’t win, but let’s see what happens on that,” he said.
Trump: We didn’t win but let’s see what happened on that pic.twitter.com/RYyxt3QJ7z
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 17, 2021
That didn’t stop Trump from continuing to argue – contrary to the media’s assertions – that there was fraud in the 202o presidential election including a claim “ballot batches (were) off by up to 17.5 percent in Maricopa County, Arizona.”
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