Ballots are pulled aside for a hand audit by Maricopa County Elections Department staff ahead of Tuesdays election on October 31, 2020 in Phoenix, Ariz. (Courtney Pedroza/Getty Images)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 7:16 AM PT – Friday, July 16, 2021
Arizona audit experts announced the voting machines were indeed hacked via internet connection in last year’s elections. During the Arizona Senate hearing, CyFIR CEO Ben Cotton said dominion machines in Maricopa County were connected to the internet.
This comes as Maricopa County officials have continued to resist the state Senate’s subpoena to turn over the voting machine routers. Arizona Republicans claimed internet routers, chain of custody records and images of mail-in ballots have yet to be turned over to the auditors.
Meanwhile, auditors have yet to reveal the scope of the fraud, including both ballots and electronic equipment along with their assessment on whether it changed election outcomes.
BREAKING: Arizona Audit meeting at AZ State Senate reveals Maricopa County still has not provided many materials needed for complete audit – including routers, chain of custody, and images of mail in ballots#ArizonaAudit #AmericasAudit #ElectionIntegrity
— Arizona Republican Party (@AZGOP) July 15, 2021
Cotton said last year’s elections were not secure. “The registration server that was public facing did have unauthorized access to that, in cybersecurity terms, it was breached,” said Cotton.
Following the hearing, Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward went on to highlight there is a significant number of potentially fraudulent votes.
“We also learned that according to the written records, there were about 74,000 mail-in ballots that were received by the county, but there is no record that they were ever sent out,” said Ward. “There were also nearly 4,000 people who were shown as having voted on election day, but their registration date is after Oct. 15, 2020, which was the deadline for registering to vote.”
Joe Biden purportedly won Arizona by less than 11,000 votes, which is much less than the amount of potential fraud.
Meantime, state senators are preparing additional subpoenas to get a hold of those materials. The audit results are set to be released in the coming weeks.
