The Arizona Senate has issued the subpoenas to Maricopa County in order to perform a full forensic audit of their Dominion Voting machines.
National File reported on Monday on the Arizona Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on election integrity. During the hearing, State Senator Eddie Farnsworth announced the Arizona Senate would be issuing subpoenas to perform a full forensic audit of the Dominion Voting machines, software, and ballots used in Maricopa County.
“If we perform an audit and everything was done perfectly, that’s great, we’ve gone a long way in restoring the confidence in this process,” Farnsworth said. “We hold an audit… and then we can put this to rest.” However, he did note that this audit would not necessarily address all fraud “on the front end” of voting.
BREAKING: Arizona Sen. Eddie Farnsworth says he plans to subpoena Dominion for their “machines, ballots, and software” following today’s legislative hearing on voter fraud pic.twitter.com/uQjdf33dlx
— National File (@NationalFile) December 14, 2020
Farnsworth said the subpoenas could be issued “as early as tomorrow.” A statement on Tuesday from Senate President Karen Fann has now confirmed this is the case, with the subpoenas having been issued to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday afternoon.
“One subpoena calls for a scanned ballot audit, to collect an electronic ballot image cast for all mail-in ballots counted in the November 2020 general election in Maricopa County, Arizona,” the statement reads. “The second subpoena calls for a full forensic audit of ballot tabulation equipment, the software for that equipment and the election management system used in the 2020 general election.”
The subpoenas were necessary to perform the forensic audit as the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors had refused to hand over anything to the Arizona Senate until all ongoing litigation regarding the elections was finished, a legal opinion Farnsworth criticised during the hearing. They call for all information to be delivered to Farnsworth in his position as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee by 5 PM on Friday.
The Arizona GOP, led by Dr Kelli Ward, celebrated the issuing of the subpoenas in a tweet, calling it a “great moment in history for transparency and election integrity.” Joseph Chaplik, Arizona State Representative-elect, hoped that the Maricopa County Board of Superviosrs will co-operate “for the sake of election integrity,” saying it was “unfortunate” the subpoenas were even necessary to begin with.”
I trust that the county board of supervisors will cooperate for the sake of election integrity.
It’s unfortunate that subpoenas were necessary – this should have happened weeks ago! https://t.co/bTP2wsMBzS
— Joseph Chaplik 🇺🇸 (@JosephChaplik) December 16, 2020
READ MORE: MORE FOR SCOTUS: Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward Announces Case Now Submitted to SCOTUS
The Hawaii GOP used the audit in Maricopa County as an opportunity to query the entire way election integrity was processed. “Where questions persist about voting equipment there should be a defined process and perhaps standardised at the Federal level to perform extensive audits,” they tweeted. “Elections in our great Republic should be above reproach and tamper proof.”
Where questions persist about voting equipment there should be a defined process and perhaps standardized at the Federal level to perform extensive audits.
Elections in our great Republic should be above reproach and tamper proof.
— Hawaii GOP (@gophawaii) December 16, 2020
