Senate Audit Liaison Accuses Maricopa County Board Of Violating Subpoenas

audit
{Photo via Maricopa County social media]

The man pegged by Senate President Karen Fann to oversee the audit of Maricopa County’s 2020 General Election results accused the county board of supervisors of not complying with subpoenas a judge previously ruled were legitimate.

Ken Bennett told KFYI’s James T. Harris on Monday that Maricopa County has not fully complied with the Senate’s January subpoenas, even though hundreds of subpoenaed items were delivered to the audit site at Veterans Memorial Coliseum the week of April 19, including the voting machines and tabulators used by the county during the election.


Listen to audit liaison, former Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett discuss failure to produce by Maricopa County Board of Supervisors

The county also turned over the nearly 2.1 million original ballots cast by voters.

But Bennett suggested there are people “afraid of something” given that Maricopa County has not turned over everything included on the subpoenas which a judge ordered the board of supervisors to comply with in February.

“Here we are several weeks into the audit, and we still do not have some of the information that was subpoenaed,” Bennett said. “They told me personally weeks ago that they had taken all the routers and the internet connections and the hubs and everything out of the building so they could send it to us.”

Bennett told Harris that Maricopa County’s elections officials said the auditors would have access to logs needed to confirm the electronic equipment had never been hooked up to the internet.

“And lo and behold, they don’t show up in the equipment that they said would be delivered to us,” Bennett said.

Bennett’s comments Monday represents the first time the public has heard of allegations that Maricopa County not fully complying with the subpoenas. The issue was not addressed during any of the four court hearings held about the audit in the last 10 days, including one at the Arizona Supreme Court.

“What is ludicrous is not having an audit, what is ludicrous is the county and others won’t even give you the information that the judge said they should give you,” Bennett said.

Bennett reiterated his prior statements that the audit is not being conducted for the purpose of revisiting the results of the 2020 General Election. Instead, he noted, the purpose is ensuring elections officials know what changes -if any- are necessary to perfect the election process prior to the 2022 election cycle.