Maricopa County is offering drive-through drop boxes to increase accessibility for voters. | Element5 Digital/Unsplash
Maricopa County is offering drive-through drop boxes to increase accessibility for voters. | Element5 Digital/Unsplash
An audit conducted by the Arizona Senate in the wake of the 2020 presidential election found that ballot tabulation equipment used in Arizona’s most populous county was not compromised.
A full hand count of ballots in Maricopa County and a review of tabulation equipment by contractors hired by the Senate found no major problems, according to KPNX. Bill Gates, chairman of the county's Board of Supervisors, said the latest review should put any lingering doubts about the 2020 election to rest.
“Whenever impartial, independent, and competent people have examined the county’s election practices, they have found no reason to doubt the integrity of those practices,” Gates said. “The Board of Supervisors remains committed to free and fair elections that conform to federal and state laws.”
Gates recently posted a statement on Maricopa County's website and mentioned a subpoena by Sen. Kelly Townsend (R-Maricopa) based on a study conducted by Shiva Ayyadurai and the EchoMail group. Gates pointed out that the supervisors had provided “thousands of documents, data, and equipment to the Arizona Senate” to certify the legitimacy of the 2020 election. Gates also said that the EchoMail study was based on an analysis of voter signatures, which are not public information and had not been released anywhere except to the Senate, suggesting that the EchoMail study was illegitimate.
“Given the number of false and misleading claims issued in EchoMail’s September 2021 report to the Senate, it’s not surprising this more recent report also uses faulty analysis to draw the conclusions Ayyadurai desires,” Gates said.
He further defended the county’s election practices by stating that as of February, Maricopa County had “produced more than 4,400 documents and five detailed PowerPoint slide decks to the attorney general’s office. In addition, the Elections Department answered all the questions from AG investigators and provided in-depth tours of election facilities.”
Gates said that any debate on the 2020 election results should be laid to rest.
“The 2020 election is over,” he said in the post. “County staff spent thousands of hours responding to the Senate’s inquiry of the 2020 elections. The Board of Supervisors continues to stand by the integrity of our workers and the effective checks and balances in place that allow us to provide free, fair, and accurate elections.”
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