Image by Nick Youngson | Alpha Stock Images/CC BY-SA 3.0
By Jeremy Duda | Arizona Mirror
Maricopa County’s top elections official pushed back against criticism from fellow Republicans in the Arizona Senate who claim the county’s audit of its ballot tabulation machines, as well as the companies that are conducting them, are insufficient.
Stephen Richer, who was elected Maricopa County recorder in November after defeating incumbent Democrat Adrian Fontes, defended the two companies that the county has hired to audit its machines as supremely qualified.
And he defended the audits themselves as rigorous.
“Over the past few weeks, I’ve heard a number of mischaracterizations of the audit. I’m writing today to hopefully provide some clarity,” Richer said in a press statement on Wednesday.
Maricopa County hired SLI Compliance and Pro V&V to conduct two audits — one that was completed last week and another being conducted this week — of its ballot tabulation machines. The audits were ordered by the county’s Board of Supervisors in response to widespread concerns over false election fraud allegations promoted by President Donald Trump and prominent Arizona Republicans. Many of those debunked conspiracy theories involve Dominion Voting Systems, which provides Maricopa County’s ballot-counting machines.
