Arizona ballot review: Maricopa County and Arizona GOP-led Senate reach agreement after months of partisan sparring
Maricopa County’s Board of Supervisors on Friday agreed to offer the supplies in query to a “particular grasp,” who will rent consultants to evaluation the information and supply info to the state Senate. Former Arizona Republican congressman John Shadegg will fill that function.
The settlement basically “retains county routers and different delicate supplies out of the arms of the Senate’s contractor, Cyber Ninjas,” the board stated in a information launch Friday. “The settlement additionally protects taxpayers and ends a authorized dispute over the Senate’s ongoing election evaluation by bringing the County into full compliance with excellent subpoenas.”
“The Cyber Ninjas won’t ever be capable to contact the routers or entry our information,” Maricopa County board chairman Jack Sellers stated in a written assertion. “An impartial third get together can affirm what we have all the time stated: the election gear was not linked to the web and no vote switching occurred.”
The board’s arms had been tied when the Arizona legal professional basic imposed a September 27 deadline to satisfy the necessities of the state Senate’s subpoenas or danger shedding $676 million in shared state gross sales tax income, the board stated within the assertion.
“Underneath menace of shedding a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of {dollars} in income sharing, right this moment Maricopa County settled with the State Senate, in a victory for election integrity and the Arizona taxpayer,” state Senate President Karen Fann stated an announcement.
Fann, a Republican, added that the county will cowl Shadegg’s prices to conduct the evaluation. Shadegg might rent one to a few pc know-how consultants to reply to the state Senate’s questions, in response to the settlement.
Additional, the settlement limits the Arizona Senate’s inquiries to the county’s routers and splunk logs associated to the November basic election.
Arizona’s Senate had issued subpoenas asking Maricopa County for a slew of data, together with paperwork, passwords, safety info, adjustments of voter registration information, signed poll envelopes or pictures, paperwork associated to any breaches of the election system, details about adjustments in voting information, county routers and IP addresses and pc logs from two months earlier than and three months after the election.
However the county had declined sharing some supplies attributable to safety issues.
“The Senate will lastly get the solutions to questions requested for in subpoenas issued to the County months in the past,” Fann stated.
CNN’s Aya Elamroussi contributed to this report.
