[Just the News] Maricopa County's explanation of refusal to share routers, passwords suggests voting machines were connected to internet.Arizona Senate Republicans tried to ease tensions with Maricopa County officials angry about the ongoing election audit in a special hearing Tuesday.
"This has nothing to do with overturning the election" that Joe Biden won in the state's largest county, Senate President Karen Fann said in her opening statement. She claimed to have always said she doesn't expect to find "intentional wrongdoing" by county officials.
The Board of Supervisors said they wouldn't testify at Tuesday's hearing in their own Monday meeting and formal response to Fann's questions about irregularities and missing data discovered by Senate-hired auditors.
Those auditors updated Fann and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Warren Petersen on their efforts Tuesday. Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan said he expected to complete the audit by the end of June, blaming technical issues and insufficient staffing for the slow pace.
CyFIR founder Ben Cotton said he had resolved one of the most bitter disputes between Senate Republicans and county officials: the alleged deletion of the main database for the 2020 general election.
Despite finding a "master file table" confirming that a database directory was deleted from the server, Cotton has been able to recover the deleted files and does not need anything more from the county, he told lawmakers. "I think that's some good news," Petersen replied.
| Recovered? How very interesting... for some, anyway. |
Senate Republicans emphasized they were making good-faith efforts to fix ongoing problems with Arizona elections revealed by the audit, including through legislative changes to chain-of-custody requirements.
Bennett was similarly flummoxed by conversations with his county counterpart over the transfer of routers involved in the election, now the subject of a stalemate with Sheriff Paul Penzone.
He offered to send the contractor to Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center (MCTEC) to inspect the routers "while they were still installed and in place," but his counterpart told Bennett the next day the equipment had already been removed and replaced "at great expense."
| And who signed off for that great expense, pray tell? |
Serial numbers missing between original, duplicate ballots in Arizona election audit: official
[Just the News] The Arizona Senate's audit of Maricopa County's general election has hit a new snag: verifying whether some ballots may have been counted twice.
The liaison between Senate Republicans who authorized the audit and county officials told a hearing Tuesday that serial numbers were missing on damaged ballots that were duplicated so they could be read by vote tabulation machines.
Former Secretary of State Ken Bennett's team uncovered the error just a few days ago, he told Senate President Karen Fann and Judicial Committee Chair Warren Petersen. Each damaged ballot and its associated duplicate ballot are supposed to have the same serial number to ensure they are only counted once.
But he has found many batches of damaged ballots without the serial numbers that are on the duplicates, violating state law. "We are struggling as to how we're going to be able to match up" those damaged and duplicated ballots, Bennett said.
Related:
Maricopa County: 2021-05-15 Election audit in small New Hampshire town could have implications for 2020 results statewide
Maricopa County: 2021-05-15 Fann Sends Letter Regarding Audits, Invites Maricopa County Officials to Explain
Maricopa County: 2021-05-14 Good Morning
Maricopa County: 2021-05-15 Election audit in small New Hampshire town could have implications for 2020 results statewide
Maricopa County: 2021-05-15 Fann Sends Letter Regarding Audits, Invites Maricopa County Officials to Explain
Maricopa County: 2021-05-14 Good Morning