Just to keep you updated on what’s going on in Maricopa County, Arizona, the Board of Supervisors held a press conference on Monday and called for an end to the ongoing audit of votes by the State Senate:
ICYMI: On Monday, the GOP-dominated Maricopa County Board of Supervisors called for an end to the ongoing election audit. Board Chairman Jack Sellers said he "will not be responding to any more requests from this sham process."https://t.co/AqNbhk645n
— Adam Brewster (@adam_brew) May 18, 2021
At the press conference, the board also responded to claims made by a number of state Republicans and echoed by former President Trump that election officials deleted a database prior to hand the information over to the auditors.
According to the Board of Supervisors, what happened was that the information was there but the auditors searched for it improperly:
We fixed it for you @ArizonaAudit. #RealAuditorsDont make false accusations defaming public servants. Turns out, your “auditors” just couldn’t locate the files we provided. More: https://t.co/ukILXNXnjh pic.twitter.com/zLikfeHl3r
— Maricopa County (@maricopacounty) May 17, 2021
More from ABC 15 data journo Garrett Archer:
EXPLANATION: @MaricopaVote says #AZAudit misconfigured RAID settings for either their image or recovery software. They show error logs and databases that would have been in the list if the directory was truly deleted. pic.twitter.com/qO0ULcuVut
— The AZ – abc15 – Data Guru (@Garrett_Archer) May 17, 2021
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In other words, user error:
I saw the partition errors from the jump. Just wanted to see the County's explanation. Basically, they didn't set the disks up properly on the clones of the machines that they created 🤦♂️🤷♂️ #RealAuditorsDont https://t.co/CpRUrryM8k
— Josh 'The Notorious JPG' Gray 🌵 (@jpgftw) May 17, 2021
The Country released a detailed response as well. An excerpt on this data issue:
1. Your accusation, that Maricopa County deleted data, is false.
You claim “the entire ‘Database’ directory from the D drive of the machine
EMSPrimary has been deleted.” This is false: the “Database” was not deleted
from the server. And an analysis of the screenshot you provided (the
“screenshot”), which we reproduce below, further proves that fact.We demand that you immediately rescind your false and malicious tweet
asserting that Maricopa County “spoiled evidence” in the days before we
provided the server to the Senate. Your tweet, which relies on the “modified
date” shown in the screenshot as evidence of wrongdoing, is demonstrably
false; the only thing it does demonstrate is your auditors’ incompetence.
Their stunning lack of a basic understanding for how their software works is
egregious and only made worse by the false tweet sent defaming the
hardworking employees of Maricopa County.
This letter also called on the State Senate to end the audit “for the good of the country”:
BREAKING In 13-page letter, Maricopa County Board calls on Senate President Karen Fann to end the audit: ‘It is time to end this for the good of the country.’ pic.twitter.com/HP6I0hgqn7
— Brahm Resnik (@brahmresnik) May 17, 2021
And they’re calling it the proverbial “line in the sand”:
UPDATE I asked County Board Chair Jack Sellers whether this "line in the sand," as he called it, was an ultimatum to Senate Republicans. It's not. The audit could go on for months. pic.twitter.com/RZttqroRgC
— Brahm Resnik (@brahmresnik) May 18, 2021
"We are stunned that you are asking us this question": Maricopa County 13-page response to Senate President Fann's 5/12 letter builds case that county might bring at some future date: "'Auditors' are in way over their heads." LETTER https://t.co/ivGJnYstcJ
— Brahm Resnik (@brahmresnik) May 18, 2021
State Senate President Karen Fann ordered the Supervisor to appear at a televised hearing today, but they said on Monday that they will not comply:
NOW Maricopa County Supervisor @billgatesaz rejects Senate Prez Karen Fann invitation to Tuesday meeting: “We were commanded to appear Tuesday as part of political theater broadcast on livestream by OAN. We’re not going to be a part of that.”
— Brahm Resnik (@brahmresnik) May 17, 2021
We’ll find out more this afternoon from Fann:
Just in: Senate President Karen Fann tells me via text that she will respond Maricopa County’s call for ending the audit tomorrow at a 1pm during meeting that will be live streamed. Her full response below #azfamily pic.twitter.com/hMP475s2VT
— Dennis Welch (@dennis_welch) May 18, 2021
The County also tweeted out this thread in response to the allegations:
Maricopa County refutes lies about election audit in letter to @fannkfann. Bottom line:
-NO deleted files
-NO chain of custody issues
-We provided what they asked for except for routers, for security reasons
-“Auditors” trouble locating info we provided is THEIR problemThread:
— Maricopa County (@maricopacounty) May 17, 2021
Files: @ArizonaAudit falsely claimed that files were deleted from a County server. Here’s the truth. When the server was shut down on 4/12/20 for delivery to the Senate, the metadata on the files updated to the dates of the shutdown. Nothing was deleted. https://t.co/r6s46ASDJC
— Maricopa County (@maricopacounty) May 17, 2021
From the Board’s letter to Senator Fann: “The failure of the Senate’s so-called ‘auditors’ to locate files on a copy they made of the County’s server speaks more to their ineptitude than it does to the integrity of our dedicated employees…”
— Maricopa County (@maricopacounty) May 17, 2021
Chain of custody: We are stunned that this is even a question. Senate liaison Ken Bennett signed documentation demonstrating chain of custody. pic.twitter.com/Fyu7cD5gv3
— Maricopa County (@maricopacounty) May 17, 2021
Seals: The questions regarding ballot box sealing further illustrate a lack of election law knowledge. Pursuant to AZ law the bags in which Election Day ballots are stored are sealed. And when they are transferred to long-term storage, the original seals are kept in the boxes.
— Maricopa County (@maricopacounty) May 17, 2021
Batch dividers: It is @maricopavote’s practice to divide batches of ballots using the slip logs, but no law requires the Elections Department to do that. Our above standard organizational practices are not to blame for the “audit” being ~1.5 million ballots behind schedule.
— Maricopa County (@maricopacounty) May 17, 2021
Boxes sealed with tape: Election Day ballots are stored with tamper-evident tape, as are batches in the hand count to ensure security when transported outside of the secure vault. When stored in our vault long-term, boxes are sealed w/standard clear sturdy tape, per state statute
— Maricopa County (@maricopacounty) May 17, 2021
Batch # slips: The difference in “pink-slip batch numbers” is because the # on the slips counts ballots sent to the tabulation center. Ballots that can't be read by tabulation equipment are pulled for adjudication. This is why the # of ballots in the box may differ from the slip.
— Maricopa County (@maricopacounty) May 17, 2021
In the case of slips that indicated fewer ballots than “auditors” found in the boxes- We examined Daily Tabulator Log slips for several batches and verified #’s are correct.
Review the technical report here: https://t.co/r6s46ASDJC pic.twitter.com/nDpdTdh97C— Maricopa County (@maricopacounty) May 17, 2021
Find more detailed responses to all claims and false accusations brought forth by the Arizona Senate in the Board’s letter to @FannKFann: https://t.co/ukILXNXnjh
— Maricopa County (@maricopacounty) May 17, 2021
We’ll keep you posted.
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