Maricopa County will spend nearly $3 million to replace voting equipment, which officials say has been permanently contaminated by the Arizona Senate election review. 

Before the upcoming elections, the county will spend millions to purchase and destroy old equipment that has been subpoenaed for audits and the new system.

After the county announced on June 28 that it would not reuse most of the voting equipment owned by contractors for audits, the board of supervisors unanimously voted for the funds.

Secretary of State Katie Hobbs has previously warned the county that if officials try to use these machines in another election, her office will cancel the certification of these machines, citing concerns about the chain of custody after the Senate takes over these machines. .

Hobbs said she consulted experts and officials from the US Department of Homeland Security and concluded that it was impossible to determine whether the machines were tampered with. 

Therefore, the Supervisory Board agreed to purchase all the subpoenaed equipment from Dominion Voting Systems for disposal. The board intends to replace the equipment with the new voting system before the next election. 

"The frustrating thing is that these machines are very good and have passed all our accuracy tests since we first got them in 2019. Taxpayers paid a lot of money for them, but now these devices will have to be retired. Because the Senate did not "don't take our warnings about chain of custody seriously," said Jack Sellers, chairman of the board of supervisors, in a statement issued after the meeting.

"When the Senate leadership chose novices instead of reputable certified companies for audits, they wasted an expensive investment in serving Maricopa County voters in 2019 and 2020."

A spokesperson for the Republican in the Senate did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At the same time, the number of votes for the county's November 2020 election will be counted separately at the state fair on Wednesday afternoon.

Fann said last week that she hopes to count the estimated 2.1 million votes to check statistics on the forensic audit reports of the votes by contractors hired by the county election department and the Senate. Fann stated that the county and Cyber ​​Ninjas reported that the numbers did not match, but she did not provide the numbers.

The Senate vote count only focuses on the number of votes, not the votes of candidates in the presidential and U.S. Senate elections. This is the focus of a broader audit.

The Senate purchased two paper counting machines and two auxiliary equipment for this new task at an estimated cost of $30,000. The price tag includes a technician who trained employees working for the Cyber ​​Ninja contractor on how to use the machines during part of the Wednesday morning.

It is not clear how long it will take for the Senate to count votes, but the Senate has extended its lease on the State Exhibition Center building for another two weeks. 

The total price for the county to purchase the now-defunct voting system is $2.8 million. Since the Senate signed a compensation agreement with the county before handing over the election materials, it is not clear how many of them came from taxpayers in Maricopa County.

The agreement ensures that the Senate will be financially responsible for any losses suffered during the custody of the equipment.

The county and Dominion signed a $6.1 million lease on these systems, and it is unclear whether the county is also seeking to make the Senate pay the remaining $3.3 million of the contract.

Purchased 385 new constituency tabulators, 9 central counters, and hardware required for the next election, and the revised contract with Dominion is now $9 million. The contract will expire at the end of 2022. 

At the board meeting on Wednesday, Supervisor Steve Chukri admitted that although the cost is high, the supervisors have no real choice in this matter due to the upcoming elections. 

"All this comes at a price, and we know it, but it's worth it," he said. "Suppose we vote against: we will not be able to conduct these elections."   

At the same time, Bill Gates, vice chairman of the board, said the demand for new voting equipment should not surprise the Senate. 

"This choice was made by the State Senate. We made it clear to them that if they hand over these machines to uncertified people, we can no longer use them," he said. "We need to have election equipment that can be used in the upcoming elections.

"I think it is fundamentally unfair to pay for taxpayers in Maricopa County," he added, referring to the compensation agreement signed by Senate Chairman Karen Fann.

County spokesperson Fields Moseley (Fields Moseley) said that supervisors have not yet formally decided whether to require the Senate to repay the equipment.

Although the Senate’s initial compensation agreement protects the county from the cost of equipment damage during Senate custody, it is not clear whether the Senate’s financial responsibility extends to the purchase of the old and new voting systems. 

Supervisor Steve Gallardo expressed frustration with what he said about unnecessary audits and the potential cost of taxpayers.

"Because of a big lie, we now use nearly $3 million in taxpayer funds," Gallardo said. "They have caused more damage to election integrity and democracy than at any time in history."

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