Maricopa County Board of Supervisors condemns election audit and new subpoenas: 'There was no fraud'
- On July 26, a new series of subpoenas were issued to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.
- The board and the county attorney's office objected to portions of the subpoenas.
- Board Chair Jack Sellers issued a response asking elected officials to stop encouraging conspiracy theories.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors issued a pointed response to Arizona state Senate Republicans, who issued a new series of subpoenas to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors on July 26 related to their audit of the 2020 election.
Board Chairman Jack Sellers condemned the audit in his portion of the response, stating that the board has "little time to entertain this adventure in never-never land."
In early 2020, the state's Senate chose Cyber Ninjas, a private firm with no previous election experience, to carry out another count of ballots in Maricopa County. The firm is spearheaded by a Trump supporter who promoted false conspiracy claims last fall.
Because President Joe Biden won Maricopa County by more than 45,000 votes, the audit commissioned by Arizona's GOP-led state Senate has been dismissed by experts as a partisan endeavor intended to substantiate former President Donald Trump's false claims that he won.
The Board of Supervisors' response to the audit-related subpoenas also contained a letter from the Maricopa County Attorney's Office objecting to certain demands, including turning over all ballot envelopes or images of them, routers, network logs, and all county registered voter records to date.
"There was no fraud, there wasn't an injection of ballots from Asia nor was there a satellite that beamed votes into our election equipment. It's time for all elected officials to tell the truth and stop encouraging conspiracy theories," Sellers said.
Sellers concluded his portion of the response by the auditors to release their report, as well as asking them to "be prepared to defend any accusations of misdeeds in court."
Two days before the July 26 subpoenas were issued, Republican Arizona state Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita withdrew her support for the audit.
In a Twitter thread, Ugenti-Rita said she believed the effort had been "botched" and the "incompetence" of Senate President Karen Fann had deprived the voters of a comprehensive audit.