Name: Arizona Senate considers contempt finding against Maricopa County supervisors over election audit
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Arizona Senate considers contempt finding against Maricopa County supervisors over election audit

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Arizona RepublicView CommentsRepublicans in the Arizona Senate have escalated their&nbsp;ongoing fight with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors over the 2020 election.On Wednesday, they&nbsp;introduced&nbsp;a resolution to hold the board's members in contempt for not turning over&nbsp;—&nbsp;or at least providing access to&nbsp;—&nbsp;ballots along with other records. It's not clear exactly what a&nbsp;contempt finding against the supervisors would result in, though the resolution appears to allow for their arrest.Republican lawmakers are intent on conducting their own audit of the county's election results after Democrat Joe Biden won the county and state. They have issued subpoenas for ballots, voting equipment and more over the past two months.But county supervisors have said state laws prevent them from providing many of the records sought in the subpoenas and they instead are conducting their own audit.That hasn't satisfied Senate Republicans, as all 16 have sponsored a resolution calling on the Senate president to take "all legal action" to enforce the subpoenas, citing a state law that allows the sergeant at arms to arrest anyone who disobeys a legislative subpoena and bring them before the Senate.It would be the first time in decades — if ever — that the Senate has held anyone in contempt.Senate President Karen Fann, R-Prescott, said the chamber may vote on the measure on&nbsp;Monday if an agreement with the county is not reached. Senators voted along party lines on Thursday to waive the rules that allow for the vote without first holding hearings. The Senate could then go back to court or ask the attorney general to prosecute. Disobeying a legislative subpoena is a class 2 misdemeanor.Fann said the Board of Supervisors could agree to an audit with the Senate at any time but said,&nbsp;"It's not going away.""We have tens of thousands of voters who have questions about the county's election. Whether they're founded or unfounded, I don't know. We as a Senate body have an obligation to our constituents to get answers to their questions," Fann said.Democrats dismissed the suggestion that an audit would put to rest claims from Republican lawmakers that there were irregularities in the last election.While the campaign of former President Donald Trump and other Republicans filed a series of lawsuits in Arizona disputing the results of the election and its procedures, all fell apart in court."I don't think they're ever going to be satisfied, no matter what," said Sen. Lela Alston, D-Phoenix.Alston raised concerns about allowing the Senate or an auditing firm it selects to access ballots and election equipment.The Senate&nbsp;announced last week it had chosen a firm to conduct the audit and the county released documents Wednesday that showed the Senate has considered a firm, Allied Security Operations Group, with connections to the Trump campaign's efforts to overturn election results in several states."We're going to turn all our ballots over to someone when we have no idea about their credentials," Alston said.But Fann said on Wednesday that the Senate had not settled on any firm for the work and had not signed a contract with anyone.Either way, Board of Supervisors Chairman Jack Sellers, a Republican,&nbsp;said state law simply does not allow him to give the Senate the kind of access it demands. The county has maintained that ballots are sealed until a court decides otherwise. "It is our understanding that state law prohibits the release of the ballots once they have been sealed," Sellers&nbsp;said in a statement. "There is nothing prohibiting the Senate and their lawyers from going into a courtroom and explaining to a judge why the Board should disregard state law and allow access to people's ballots and personal information."Steve Gallardo, the only Democrat on the five-member board of supervisors, accused the Senate of operating on unfounded conspiracies."The only contempt I see is what state senators have shown to Maricopa County voters since early November. Contempt for their privacy. Contempt for the way the majority voted. Contempt for the democratic process," Gallardo said in a statement.Republicans pointed to an issue beyond the election, though, arguing on Thursday that the county was undermining the Legislature's power and that the&nbsp;body had to respond."This is about a direct challenge to the authority of the Legislature," Sen. Sonny Borrelli, R-Lake Havasu City said.In that sense, Democrats said the measure amounted to a power play.Besides, Democrats questioned how exactly the Senate planned on enforcing a contempt resolution.Would they really send the sergeant at arms to arrest the Board of Supervisors, some wondered?"Where is he going to put them?" Sen. Sally Ann Gonzales, D-Tucson, asked.County officials have said they had turned over hundreds of thousands of pages of documents to the Senate’s lawyers, including voter registration information that can already be publicly requested and logs showing who accessed voting equipment.Megan Gilbertson, communications director for the Maricopa County Elections Department, said no private voter information was released and tabulation equipment, as well as 2020 ballots, remain in the county's custody.Meanwhile, the county started an audit on Tuesday, led by the two companies it hired.That audit will not include ballots from 2020 or another recount. Instead, it will examine whether voting machines were tampered with and test the accuracy of those machines.Contact Andrew Oxford at or on Twitter at .View Comments

Arizona RepublicView CommentsRepublicans in the Arizona Senate have escalated their&nbsp;ongoing fight with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors over the 2020 election.On Wednesday, they&nbsp;introduced&nbsp;a resolution to hold the board's members in contempt for not turning over&nbsp;—&nbsp;or at least providing access to&nbsp;—&nbsp;ballots along with other records. It's not clear exactly what a&nbsp;contempt finding against the supervisors would result in, though the resolution appears to allow for their arrest.Republican lawmakers are intent on conducting their own audit of the...

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Arizona Senate considers contempt finding against Maricopa County supervisors over election audit

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