Grand Canyon Times

Election “laws have been broken,” Arizona Senate President Karen Fann (R-Prescott) told GOP supporters at a Saturday rally honoring the U.S. Constitution, a day after she announced a deal with Maricopa County for an elections auditor to inspect routers and other election-related materials.

The specifics about which laws were allegedly broken will have to wait until Friday, Fann told an Arizona's Family reporter after her speech at the Queen Creek Botanical Gardens. At that time, Cyber Ninjas, the lead auditor in the months-long review of the 2020 Maricopa County elections results, is expected to deliver a report to Fann and Judiciary Chair Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert).

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors agreed to turn over the materials to a special master after the Senate in late July had issued a second round of subpoenas, and state Attorney General Mark Brnovich threatened to withhold funding from the county if it did not comply.

“Under threat of losing hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue sharing, Maricopa County settled with the State Senate in a victory for election integrity and the Arizona taxpayer,” Fann said in a statement. “The agreement sets up a special master paid for by the county who will get the answers to questions the Senate has had concerning the routers and splunk logs (files stored in a system) used in the 2020 election.”

Fann told the Arizona’s Family reporter that she would not hesitate to issue more subpoenas if the county did not turn over all materials demanded by the Senate.

Under the agreement, former Congressman and Republican John Shadegg will serve as special master.

In addition, Fann announced that the county has dropped its notice of a $2.8 million claim to replace election equipment delivered to the Senate as required in a January subpoena.

“Experts have told us there is nothing compromised or damaged by the audits,” she said. "(T)here is no reason taxpayers should be on the hook for purchasing unnecessary new election equipment.”

Sen. Kelly Townsend (R-Mesa), one of the Legislature’s leading advocates for tightening the state’s election laws, said in a statement that she opposed the compromise, but now the deal is moving forward she insists on certain procedures:

Having “Ben Cotton from Cyfir (or someone directly involved in the AZ audit thus far, who knows what they are looking at) needs to be present in person, within viewing distance, at all times when any information is collected and handled by the special master's IT team.”

Townsend also wants a “chain of custody of all information and action must be collected, preserved and presented to the Senate as part of the audit.”

And she said that “a report must be put together that is comprehensive and complete regarding every action taken. Every question asked, and every request made must be documented and made public.

“If any of these requirements are not met then the information gathered and collected shall be considered incomplete and non verifiable,” Townsend said. “It is not for the public or other Senators not involved in this process to just trust the special master and his IT team. This senator will accept nothing less. If additional requirements arise in the coming days, they will be posted as well. We have come too far to finish weak.”