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By Ryan Randazzo | Arizona Republic
A judge on Wednesday ordered the Arizona Senate to turn over thousands of outstanding documents related to the Maricopa County election review by Aug. 31, even as the legal battle over some records held by the private contractor running the effort lingers.
The Senate’s attorney, Kory Langhofer, said the Senate is preparing about 10,000 documents, including emails about the audit, to release in an online reading room where records from the audit are posted.
Related: Maricopa County wants $2.8M from Arizona Senate, files claim for cost to replace voting machines
A nonprofit group called American Oversight sued the Senate for records from the audit, as did The Arizona Republic. Both cases are ongoing. The Senate has said it will produce records that are in its possession, but not records held by its contractor, Cyber Ninjas.
American Oversight was founded in part by former Obama administration officials to investigate the Trump administration. The group first requested, then sued for, a variety of records, including communications between the Senate and Cyber Ninjas.
American Oversight’s lawyer, Roopali Desai, told Kemp the Senate was moving far too slow in releasing documents and that he should issue an order directing that they be produced by Aug. 31. Kemp did just that.
He also ordered the Senate to produce a list of documents it withheld because attorneys don’t think they fall under the law. Langhofer opposed that, too.
