Supporters of President Donald Trump demonstrate at a “Stop the Steal” rally in front of the Maricopa County Elections Department office on Nov. 7, 2020. /Photo by Mario Tama / Getty Images
By Jeremy Duda | Arizona Mirror
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors did not comply with the Arizona Senate’s request to set a date for turning over materials that Republican lawmakers subpoenaed for a proposed audit of the 2020 general election.
And that could land them in jail for contempt, if one of the Senate Republicans who issued the subpoenas has his way.
The Senate had given the county supervisors a deadline of noon Tuesday to say when they would comply with the disputed subpoenas, which Maricopa County has challenged in court and says are outside the purview of the Senate’s legal authority. After conferring with legal counsel on Tuesday morning, the supervisors again refused the Senate’s demand for ballot tabulation machines, software, data and more than 2 million paper ballots.
Fields Moseley, a spokesman for the county, said the supervisors have turned over some data sought by the Senate, such as publicly available voter registration information. But it legally can’t and has no intention to provide other items requested in the subpoenas.
“The board has no interest in turning over 2.1 million ballots that are under seal, per state law. There is no mechanism other than a court order to compel the release of those ballots,” Moseley said.
