The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and Recorder accused Attorney General Mark Brnovich of executing a dishonest investigation into the 2020 election. In a public letter, the election officials claimed that Brnovich’s interim report on the 2020 election released last month was nothing but misinformation intended to “score cheap political points.” Brnovich is a candidate in the upcoming U.S. Senate race.
“Rather than being truthful about what your office has learned about the election, you have omitted pertinent information, misrepresented facts, and cited distorted data to seed doubt about the conduct of elections in Maricopa County,” read the letter.
The election officials then refuted claims made by Brnovich: that up to 200,000 ballots lacked proper chain of custody, that Maricopa County didn’t cooperate fully with Brnovich’s investigation, that the county relied on artificial intelligence to execute signature verification, and that the number of rejected ballots were too low. They also challenged Brnovich on his decision to publish an unprecedented interim report, characterizing it as improper commentary on an ongoing investigation.
On Wednesday morning, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors held a press conference during their special and formal meeting. Chairman Bill Gates said that Brnovich’s interim report was backing fraud and necessitated a response from the board.
“We’re all Republicans who actually have the statutory responsibility to run these elections, and we’re saying these allegations are false, that there’s no systemic fraud,” said Gates. “Our democracy is on the line here.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer reiterated one of the promises made in their letter: that the county would submit public records requests of all of the public records requests sent to the attorney general’s office for the last two years.
Richer explained that the goal of the massive undertaking was to see how many of those requests Brnovich’s office fulfilled. He accused Brnovich of living in a glass house.
The county is making a public records request of the Attorney General's Office for all public records requests the AG has received in the past two years and if and when those requests were fulfilled.
I'm going to bet somebody lives in a glass house.
— Stephen Richer—Maricopa Cnty Recorder (prsnl acct) (@stephen_richer) May 4, 2022
Brnovich called the county’s response “disappointing.” He accused Maricopa County officials of casting stones instead of working alongside his office to resolve election integrity concerns.
“The reality is we issued an interim report that identified several issues that need to be addressed,” said Brnovich.
Brnovich held that up to 200,000 ballots lacked proper chain of custody. Brnovich also challenged the supervisors’ office to offer a clear, consistent answer on signature verification processes, pointing out the range of times they estimated it took to verify a signature.
While many people are frustrated, the important thing to remember is that we should all want the same thing — fair elections that maintain accuracy and promote public confidence.
Here is my response to the special meeting from the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. pic.twitter.com/6phLqURWXn
Richer called Brnovich’s statement “nonsense.” He said that Brnovich wasn’t being impartial about the 2020 election, referencing the attorney general’s interview with right-wing talk show host Steve Bannon.
lol. This is such nonsense. Show me where I brought up "ballot counting."
Also, pretty rich of you to say, "let's be civil," after you issue an interim report (which you know is a ridiculous thing) and insinuate the county broke the law.
The Maricopa County Recorder isn’t just dedicated to elections — he’s dedicated to commemorative literature. Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer bought multiple copies, or “a box,” of a book satirizing the Arizona Senate’s 2020 election audit, “Goodnight Audit,” a parody of the classic children’s book, “Goodnight Moon.”
— Stephen Richer—Maricopa Cnty Recorder (prsnl acct) (@stephen_richer) April 27, 2022
“Goodnight Audit” author Trevor Nelson, a parent activist and marketing manager, shared Richer’s post.
Nelson’s tweet from early last May served as inspiration for the cover art of the book. The post played on the name of Senate President Karen Fann (R-Prescott), pointing out a fan left on in the abandoned room.
— Trevor Nelson 🇺🇸 🇺🇦 (@CTrevorNelson) May 6, 2021
The original inspiration for Nelson’s post came from Garrett Archer, ABC15 Data Analyst and former Arizona Secretary of State Senior Elections Analyst, who pointed out that the auditors left a fan running on site after they’d left for the day.
— GoodNightAuditFan (@GoodNightAudit) May 18, 2021
Several weeks later, Nelson launched a Twitter account to help fundraise for the parody book, @goodnightaudit. “Good Night Fan” was to be the book’s original title.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Last week, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer and Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman Bill Gates appeared in a video to speak out against the Senate’s audit. The pair had teamed up to support Republicans for Voting Rights within the Republican Accountability Project, the latest endeavor of the Democratic, “Never-Trump” group, Defending Democracy Together. They were one of the top-spending “dark money” groups in the 2020 election, spending over $15 million to either oppose previous President Donald Trump or support President Joe Biden. Contrary to how DDT characterizes itself, Open Secrets classifies DDT as “liberal.”
AZ Free News reached out to both Richer and Gates to inquire about this partnership. Gates didn’t respond by press time, but Richer did. Richer told AZ Free News that he decided to team up with Defending Democracy Together because he believed it was an opportunity to speak out against what led to January 6, which he said reminded him of the French Revolution. Richer also informed us that Defending Democracy Together approached him to appear in the video, and that he didn’t receive any compensation for his appearance.
“I took the opportunity to voice my opposition to January 6 and the lies that led to January 6,” stated Richer. “Standing up against something that looked like it was out of the playbook of the French Revolution is something that would hopefully make Edmund Burke – the godfather of modern conservatism – and anyone who supports law and order proud.”
In the video, Gates said that the auditing company, Cyber Ninjas, and the Arizona Senate have “desecrated our democracy” with their audit. He urged other Republican leaders to say that no fraud existed and that President Donald Trump really lost the election, in order to save our democracy. “If you aren’t willing to speak up now, as a Republican, when are you going to?” asked Gates. “You can’t worry about your electoral prospects because we may not have a democracy by the time that you have a reelection.”
Richer concurred with Gates’ pleadings, asking Republicans what their “line in the sand” was if it wasn’t the January 6 riot. He characterized the audit as a partisan effort led by conspiracy theorists.
“I wish there were more Republicans who would speak out about this audit. There has to be a line in the sand. If lying about the election system, lying about the very form of government to which you were elected, if January 6 isn’t your line in the sand, what is?” asked Richer.
Gates shared the video shortly after it was posted by the Republican Accountability Project. “Conspiracy-driven, partisan audits only further ‘The Big Lie’ and chip away at the foundations of our democracy,” tweeted Gates. “To my fellow Republicans, it’s time to tell the truth. If not now, when? Our republic depends on it.” https://twitter.com/billgatesaz/status/1441455035901227009 The Republican Accountability Project calls January 6 an “insurrection.” By law, an insurrection is a violent uprising or rebellion against the government. The project also ranks those that many call “Republicans In Name Only” (RINOs) as “excellent,” such as Representatives Adam Kinzinger (R-IN-16) and Liz Cheney (R-WY), as well as Senators Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Ben Sasse (R-NE). True Republicans back the traditional party values of low taxation, limited government, deregulation, conservative lifestyles, capitalism, and the free market.
By definition, those in charge of Defending Democracy Together aren’t Republicans.
One of the directors, Amanda Carpenter, is a CNN political commentator and author of “GASLIGHTING AMERICA: Why We Love It When Trump Lies to Us.” Another director, Olivia Troye, pledged to vote for Biden – she was previously in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and a top aide to previous Vice President Mike Pence.
The founding director and current chairman of Defending Democracy Together, Bill Kristol, chairman, came out as a Democrat last year. Although, Kristol’s tax filings indicate that he’s been a Democrat for years.
Sarah Longwell, executive director and co-founder of Defending Democracy Together, as well as spokeswoman for Republicans for the Rule of Law went door knocking for Biden’s campaign last year and presumably voted for him.
The full transcript of the video is reproduced below:
Gates: What the Cyber Ninjas and the Arizona Senate has done is to desecrate our democracy.
Richer: This is a partisan audit that is driven by conspiracy theorists.
Gates: I’m Bill Gates and I’m Vice Chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.
Richer: My name is Stephen Richer, and I’m the Maricopa County Recorder.
Gates: We have to tell people the truth: there’s no evidence of fraud and that Donald Trump lost the election. If you aren’t willing to speak up now, as a Republican, when are you going to? You can’t worry about your electoral prospects because we may not have a democracy by the time that you have a reelection.
Richer: I wish there were more Republicans who would speak out about this audit. There has to be a line in the sand. If lying about the election system, lying about the very form of government to which you were elected, if January 6 isn’t your line in the sand, what is?
Maricopa County Supervisor Steve Chucri resigned after admitting in a leaked audio recording that Maricopa County election officials privately shared their constituents’ concerns over the 2020 election. Specifically, Chucri said he and the other election officials doubted the validity of their hand-count audit, as well as the security of Dominion Voting Machines.
According to Chucri, other board members reportedly knew the county audit wasn’t sufficient, but didn’t want to conduct a full-scale audit because they feared they’d actually lost their races. Instead, the county went ahead with an audit of only two percent of the vote. This totaled around 47,000 ballots out of nearly 2.1 million. With that, the board claimed that the sampling was sufficient to prove election integrity.
In another recording, Chucri questioned whether Dominion’s software had serious security issues. He said it was a “screw up” for Arizona to use Dominion after Texas rejected them due to critical security concerns.
According to Chucri, County Recorder Stephen Richer agreed with those concerns. However, Richer has asserted publicly that he’s never doubted the validity of Dominion’s election equipment.
Richer fired shots at Dominion doubters as recently as Tuesday afternoon. He remarked on a topic trending on Twitter at the time, “Dominion.”
“The world is learning it was all a lie done at the expense of a few private, job-producing, for-profit companies (something I thought we celebrated) and individuals who did nothing wrong,” wrote Richer. “Fortunately, @dominionvoting is going to bankrupt some liars as a result.”
After the audio recordings were leaked that depicted Richer as privately sharing county concerns over the Dominion software, he deleted the tweet.
In a letter explaining his resignation, Chucri chalked his remarks up to “turbulent times” and emphasized that they weren’t indicative of any wrongdoing or cover-up by the county regarding the 2020 election. His resignation will be effective November 5.
Unfortunately, the political landscape changed for the worse this year. The environment is wrought with toxicity – and all civility and decorum no longer seem to have a place. The fixation with the 2020 election results and aftermath have gotten out of control. In recent days it has come to light that I was secretly recorded in conversations regarding differences with some of my colleagues about an audit of the 2020 election. The comments I made were during a very turbulent time. My colleagues have every right to be both angry and disappointed with me. I should not have made such statements and offer my colleagues heartfelt apologies.
I do not want to perpetuate the very problem I ran to eliminate several years ago. While I have had my differences with my colleagues, I have known them to be good, honorable and ethical men. The picture some individuals are trying to paint about a cover-up, scam and other nonsense about my colleagues and myself is simply false. There was no cover-up, the election was not stolen. Biden won.
The leaked audio came from a March conversation between Chucri and We the People AZ Alliance, an activist election integrity group. Gateway Pundit obtained the audio recording. In it, Chucri admitted that those too concerned for their races to speak out against the audit were fellow supervisors Jack Sellers and Clint Hickman.
“[Hickman] wanted to have a conversation about an audit,” explained Chucri. “He just didn’t have the guts to do that at the end of last year, after I’d been asking for something.”
The woman asked if Hickman had his feelings hurt. Chucri said yes. He said it’s “just politics,” and agreed with the woman that Hickman needed to “suck it up.” Chucri said he regretted believing other supervisors when they claimed they were only capable of auditing two percent of the votes.
“This is a blood sport. [He said] I’m not going to kiss your a**, I’m not going to suck up for your vote – I want to earn your vote,” said Chucri. “Whereas those guys want to suck up and kiss up for your vote, and my biggest mistake […] was that I should’ve never believed what I was being told about ‘We couldn’t do more than two percent of an audit before we certified the election.’”
The election results for Chucri’s fellow board members support his remarks.
Sellers barely won his election – he received .08 percent more of the vote than his Democratic opponent, Deedra Abboud.
Chucri won comfortably, earning nearly 19 percent more of the vote than his opponent, Democrat Jevin Hodges. As did Hickman – he won by over 16 percent.
Although Supervisor Bill Gates’ win wasn’t as close as either Sellers’, his opponent only lost by less than two percent of the vote.
Chucri went on to say that he should’ve listened to Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) about that matter. Chucri admitted the county knew that they could’ve audited any percentage of the vote they desired.
“My biggest mistake was listening to that. I should’ve listened to Andy Biggs and I think even Brnovich said you could do 30 percent, you could do 60 percent,” said Chucri. “They went and screwed up there because I didn’t know about it until it was too late.”
Neither Hickman or Sellers responded to inquiries from AZ Free News by press time.
Maricopa County asserted in May that their audits were extensive enough to be considered accurate. They included a thread of 23 tweets with evidence that the Senate audit wasn’t being conducted with the protocols or professionalism of a true audit. Cyber Ninjas is the company contracted by the Senate to conduct the audit.
“Our elections were run w/ integrity, the results certified by the county & state were accurate, & the 2 independent audits conducted by the County are the true final word on the subject,” stated the county. “We know auditing. The Senate Cyber Ninja audit is not a real audit. #azsenateaudit[.]”
The 2020 elections were run w/ integrity, the results certified by the county & state were accurate, & the 2 independent audits conducted by the County are the true final word on the subject. We know auditing. The Senate Cyber Ninja audit is not a real audit. #azsenateaudit
Articles published by some media outlets this week that top Arizona officials knew of a cyberattack of Maricopa County’s voter registration files last fall but have kept it hidden are incorrect, as shown by the level of news coverage the hack received in December and January.
Part of the problem, however, is Maricopa County officials did not respond to the cyberattack in a proactive manner when it was discovered during the 2020 General Election. There was no press conference nor even a press release advising the community that voter registration data had been hacked.
The dearth of updates has not helped instill voter confidence in the months since then if social media comments are representative of community mood. And a letter Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer has sent to some voters is not helping, as it contains an inaccurate claim about how county officials responded to the cyberattack.
News of the cyberattack was first announced in early December in a Forbes article which revealed FBI agents armed with a federal search warrant raided a Fountain Hills condominium on Nov. 5, 2020, two days after the General Election. The agents went to the residence of Ellen and Elliot Kerwin looking for evidence of the cyberattack, according to court records.
The search resulted in the seizure of several computers from the Kerwin home, along with eight hard drives, and a bunch of electronic accessories.
Megan Gilbertson, a Maricopa County spokeswoman, confirmed the cyberattack to Forbes for its Dec. 4 article and she has insisted that the only voter data the hacker or hackers accessed from Oct. 21 to Nov. 4 was information about voters which is already public by law.
“Analysis by the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office IT Security indicates an unauthorized individual gathered publicly accessible voter information from our website,” Gilbertson said. “Additional security controls were put in place to mitigate against this activity occurring in the future.”
But what Gilbertson failed to say is how someone was able to access the county’s voter registration files and whether the hacker tried to get into other county databases. Other Maricopa County officials have appeared to try to divert attention away from the cyber incursion or to minimize the impact, often stating there were “no problems” with the election.
Steve Chucri of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors announced just hours before the Forbes article was published that he was considering asking for a third-party audit of the county’s Dominion Voting System machines, even as the canvas was still pending in the nation’s fourth populous county.
Then after Stephen Richer was sworn in as the county’s new recorder in January he sent a notice to some voters addressing the hack. The notice tells “Dear Voter” that the county’s IT Security Department “immediately identified the attack and successfully took steps to stop the activity.”
However, it is apparent from FBI documents that the IT department did not “immediately” stop the breach, as the attack occurred over 15 days.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Justice told AZ Free News in May the agency cannot comment about the cyberattack as it is part of an ongoing investigation. But voters seem to be growing impatient with the lack of accurate and timely information more than eight months after the hack.
Among the questions left unanswered is whether the cyberattack was undertaken simply to see if it could be done, or was it intended to cast doubt about the election? Also, was the hack possible due to lax county protocols or possibly even by the unintentional actions of a county employee?
More importantly, is Maricopa County’s reticence connected in any way to the board of supervisors’ refusal to comply with a Senate subpoena for access to the election department’s internet routers?
The most critical question, however, is when will county officials come clean with a complete explanation of how someone hacked the voter records of a major government body.
