Pressure Heats Up On Maricopa County Supervisors In Election Subpoena Dispute

December 29, 2020 Terri Jo Neff
Maricopa County Board of Supervisors [Photo courtesy Maricopa County]

With Congress set to meet next week to formally count the U.S. Electoral College votes, the Arizona Republican Party is using the hashtags #AuditTheVote and #StopTheSteal to encourage people across the county to call the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (BOS) and demand a full audit of all votes cast in the 2020 General Election.

Meanwhile, two of Arizona’s top senators filed new legal pleadings Tuesday in a dispute over legislative subpoenas issued to Maricopa County’s BOS on Dec. 15 in an attempt by the Arizona Senate Judiciary Committee to inspect nearly every document and piece of equipment used by the county during the election.

In the last few days thousands of people have used social media and traditional email to circulate the phone numbers, Twitter accounts, and email addresses for Maricopa County’s five supervisors and other top county officials. Some have also posted the supervisors’ home addresses.

Among those engaging in the grassroots effort is the Patriot Party of Texas which has used Twitter several times the last two days to entice people to “light the lines up” to the Maricopa County board.

On Monday night, the Arizona Republican Party tweeted that the Maricopa County BOS “are pleading to make the phone calls stop.” It also claims the county has “had to put more staff on the phones to keep the lines up and operating. Hopefully they figure out soon that an audit is all the voters want. Do that small thing, the phone calls will end quick!”

Then on Tuesday morning, the Vox Day blog posted the main BOS switchboard number, along with a message under the headline Gamergating Arizona that “The Donald and the Arizona Republican Party calls on Team Trump to pour it on the corrupt Maricopa County officials.”

By Tuesday afternoon, another Tweet by the Arizona Republican Party claimed the phone lines to the BOS were “melting” and that people “are doing God’s work. Bravo!”

In the meantime, it was announced Tuesday that Arizona Senate President Karen Fann and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Eddie Farnsworth filed an answer and counterclaim to a lawsuit filed against them Dec. 18 by the Maricopa County BOS, who are seeking a court order quashing two legislative subpoenas issued by Fann and Farnsworth on Dec. 15.

They demand the county turn over records, documents, and software related to the 2020 General Election, including the usernames, passwords, and security tokens needed to access the material. The subpoenas also demand the county’s voter registration records, ballots, and all equipment used during the election, including tabulator machines, computers, and memory cards.

“We filed with the court an amended complaint, answer, TRO [temporary restraining order], motion to compel and expedited hearing,” Farnsworth announced. “It is now up to the court to determine the timing. The Maricopa BOS continues to disregard their duty and comply with the subpoenas. Seems they never want the audit completed.”