In many ways, Maricopa County in Arizona is currently the center of the storm when it comes to settling the score about what happened on Nov. 3. Since April 23, a first of its kind ever forensic audit has been in progress. The Arizona State Senate and the Maricopa Board of Supervisors (BOS) have been duking it out since the election. Secretary of State Katie Hobbs also seems to be doing everything in her power to shut it down or, at a minimum, discredit it.
Subpoenas, court battles, special meetings, and contentious letters have been flying back and forth among all parties over passwords, venues, auditors, and whether the audit should have been done in the first place.
Ongoing and multiple battles are still being waged and/or litigated:
- Hobbs has written a letter demanding the current equipment being audited be decommissioned.
- The contract between Dominion and the County BOS suddenly appeared on the internet and is now being scrutinized.
- A 274-page complaint has been filed by American Oversight demanding that Senate President Karen Fann be required to turn over all requested public records surrounding the Senate’s Cyber Ninja’s audit/recount of the Nov. 2020 election in Maricopa County.
- Senate President Fann allegedly received a mailed letter with “unidentified white powder” inside.
- Politicians, current and former, continue to lob back and forth their contentious opinions about the ongoing forensic audit.
Former (GOP) Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, talking about the Arizona Senate's troubled audit of Maricopa County voting: “I think they should call it quits. It’s not going to serve any purpose.” https://t.co/FGOr29cyf8
— Bob Ortega (@Bob_Ortega) May 20, 2021
On Thursday, Hobbs sent the letter stating, because the auditors hired by the Senate are amateurs and uncertified, she is requesting that the equipment used in the Nov. 3 election never be used again for Arizona elections.
This equipment was accessed by amateur, uncertified “auditors” with zero transparency.
I support election integrity, and therefore can’t support the continued usage of these machines. https://t.co/pwjQjpnkWp
— Secretary Katie Hobbs (@SecretaryHobbs) May 20, 2021
Hobbs also cites chain of custody issues, many of which could have been avoided had the Maricopa County BOS allowed the audit to remain at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center (MCTEC) with the Senate proposed bipartisan officials present. Both were turned down by the BOS and Hobbs. Hobbs admitted in the letter that decommissioning the equipment would cost the county and its taxpayers dearly.
It's $8000 to certify the machines not Millions. The Senate wanted to do the audit on site at Maricopa County. The county said no. Furthermore the county has been offerred access at the audit site. Audits make the machines more legitimate not less legitimate. #AzAudit
— Warren Petersen (@votewarren) May 21, 2021
Additionally, a YouTube interview posted on the WeThePeople AZ Alliance channel with a local Certified Information Systems Security Professional named Aaron Wagner spoke about a newly published contract between the BOS and Dominion Voting Machines. He seeks to explain, in simple terms, some of the claims about admin passwords and routers that have been hotly debated in the past few weeks.
Twitter user CChampion also analyzes the contract. Using the contract to document his discussion, he allegedly debunks and clarifies several issues that have caused a great deal of debate between the BOS and the Senate. For example, ballots, in fact, do not contain sensitive voter information—as confirmed by Senate Liaison Ken Bennett.
THREAD!!!
So, I’m pissed…
Done reading the contract with Maricopa county. Every single DNC attorney needs to be censured for misrepresentation.
Photo 1:
Clear as day. Ballots dont contain voter info and can be posted online. pic.twitter.com/B416BmYAB7
— CChampion (@CChampi37856678) May 20, 2021
Unless the county did not follow the contract, none of the equipment (routers) “support or connect to other county infrastructure.” Allegedly, the county has no control over pertinent information on the machines and is, therefore, unable to examine the machines for vulnerabilities— only Dominion has access to that information, according to the contract.
Photo 3
The county is NOT allowed to look into the machines, check for vulnerabilities, to confirm there are no issues with them (other than logic and accuracy tests which are also administered by Domi) how is this not a private company controlling an election ? pic.twitter.com/6r3Ic6iZ9h
— CChampion (@CChampi37856678) May 20, 2021
It seems that access to the software has been held in escrow in Katie Hobb’s account, NOT the account associated with Maricopa County. She cannot access it without Dominion’s express permission.
So in closing. If they are lying about these items, which CLEARLY SOMEBODY IS, why are they? Why have they been? And who is the one lying? People don’t lie unless they have an agenda or reason to lie…. just let that sink in. There is NO disputing lies have been pushed.
— CChampion (@CChampi37856678) May 20, 2021
American Oversight, the organization that filed the above-mentioned complaint, seems to be transparently against the audit and openly anti-Trump—claiming it is a partisan effort. The site has posted numerous documents and news articles criticizing the Arizona audit. It claims that its mission is to uncover the facts and hold the “government accountable.”

NEW LAWSUIT: We’re suing the Arizona Senate for failing to release documents related to the partisan audit of the 2020 presidential ballots in Maricopa County. #AZAudit #AZleg https://t.co/BOLi5V7yYC pic.twitter.com/fttVFMLn4T
— American Oversight (@weareoversight) May 19, 2021
An election Integrity and Security bill, SB1241, introduced by Senator Kelly Townsend, will be heard on May 25. The bill addresses issues like election security, election privacy for the voter, and prevention of duplicate voting.
The Arizona audit is currently paused because of previous bookings for graduations being held this week in the Colosseum. It is set to resume on May 24. The contract for the audit has been extended through June 30, per reporting by UncoverDC.