Maricopa County says election equipment won’t be used again

PHOENIX — Maricopa County officials said Monday they will no longer use election equipment subpoenaed by the Arizona Senate for the ongoing audit of the 2020 election.

County Attorney Allister Adel said in a letter to Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs that the county shared concerns with her over the voting machines being handled by lead auditor Cyber Ninjas and others.

“Accordingly, I write to notify you that Maricopa County will not use the subpoenaed election equipment in any future election,” Adel said in the letter.

Hobbs said in a May 20 letter to Maricopa County leaders that the equipment they were forced to turn over for the audit “has been compromised” and can’t be used in future elections.

Hobbs, a Democrat, also said in the letter that if the county attempted to redeploy the machines, her office would “consider decertification proceedings.”

According to ABC15, replacing the machines could cost $6.5 million.

Hobbs added that election security experts, including the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told her office that once machines leave the custody of elections officials there’s no way to ensure they are safe to use again.

Hobbs noted that her concerns are only about the election equipment the county delivered to the auditors, not the underlying Dominion voting system.

Cyber Ninjas is the Florida-based cybersecurity company hired by Arizona Senate President Karen Fann to lead three other contractors in doing a hand count of nearly 2.1 million ballots and a forensic audit of equipment and computer systems from the November 2020 election in the state’s largest county.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Follow @DannyShapiro13