Maricopa County leaders fire back on Brnovich election update: ‘Sad we’re having to do this’

PHOENIX — Maricopa County leaders on Wednesday fired back at Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s 2020 election update from last month, stoutly asserting the interim report was flawed and used by Brnovich to curry political favor.

County Recorder Stephen Richer and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors met to address the report and sent a 59-page letter to Brnovich rejecting claims the Republican attorney general and U.S. Senate candidate made that they said sowed doubt about the legitimacy of the election.

“It is sad that we’re having to do this but I thank you for doing this with us together to send this message as five Republicans and one Democrat that this is unacceptable,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates said during the meeting.

Brnovich on April 6 sent a letter to Arizona Senate President Karen Fann alleging his investigation uncovered “serious vulnerabilities” regarding election procedures but provided no evidence that the results from the state’s most populous county were altered by widespread fraud.

The county’s rebuttal letter notes that Brnovich’s report isn’t consistent with comments he made the week after the election in November 2020 in which he asserted that voters in Arizona split their ticket and “that’s the reality.”

Former President Donald Trump, who hasn’t made an endorsement for the U.S. Senate race in Arizona, has pushed Brnovich repeatedly to find election fraud in Arizona.

Gates vowed that Brnovich wouldn’t “campaign off the backs of our county officials.”

Thomas Galvin, supervisor for District 2, called Brnovich a “rogue attorney general who has crossed the line.”

Richer, who was elected during that cycle, doubled down.

“For most people, this is just a political sport,” Richer said. “For me, it’s life. It’s life every single day we have to deal with this.”

Steve Gallardo, the lone Democrat on the board, said Brnovich should step down from his role as attorney general and shouldn’t be on the ballot for 2022.

“He knows better. He knows the election was safe and secure,” Gallardo said.

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