Developing: Arizona Senate Judiciary Chair Is Seizing Voting Machines for Forensic Audit
Voting machines used in Arizona’s Maricopa County may now be subject to inspection following action by a state legislator on Monday to begin the process of seizing the machines.
The action by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Eddie Farnsworth came after a six-hour hearing concerning the election and the ability of Arizona residents to trust the results, according to KJZZ-FM.
Republican state Rep. Mark Finchem praised the action in a news release.
“Since shortly before the 2020 election a number of my colleagues and I have been examining potential fraud pathways and illegal actions through which our 2020 election could become tainted,” Finchem said.
“I compliment Chairman Eddie Farnsworth, Senator Sonny Borrelli (Senate Whip), Senator Rick Gray (Majority Leader), Senator Michelle Ugenti-Rita, and Senator Vince Leach. Each asked thoughtful, insightful questions that left no room for any conclusion [but] that a forensic audit is about the only move that will restore constituent confidence in our elections integrity.
“The outcome of this hearing was a call by Chairman Eddie Farnsworth to issue subpoena’s to seize the machines. A forensic audit is the likely next step. This is a huge development, and moves Arizona in the right direction to account for the many irregularities.”
Farnsworth, a Republican, said that the issue is less about changing the results of the election than getting to the bottom of concerns regarding Dominion Voting Systems machines.
Farnsworth said his goal was to “try and see if we can reinsert some confidence in our election process.”
“We hold and audit and we see what the outcome is,” he said. “And then we can put this to rest.”
Subpoenas to seize the machines could be issued as soon as Tuesday, according to Farnsworth.
The Trump campaign has insisted that there has been voter fraud in states that include Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as Pennsylvania. Despite multiple anecdotal claims of voting irregularities, proof has yet to surface that there was a widespread effort to distort the voting process in such a way that would have impacted the final results of the presidential election.
Numerous affidavits testifying to various types of election fraud have been filed in courts in several swing states. These affidavits indicate that those who witnessed conduct believe that fraud took place, but those allegations have yet to be proven through either the courts or law enforcement.
Machines made by Dominion have been at the center of the post-election debate, with some reports claiming that the machines can be remotely controlled to alter the votes as cast. Dominion officials have said that is not possible.
During the hearing, Maricopa County Elections Director Scott Jarrett downplayed talk of manipulated machines and said that random hand counts have found no discrepancies between the machines and the samples.
“These hand counts are an independent audit,” Jarrett said.
But Farnsworth said the possibility must be considered.
“I do have a concern that the county is taking the position that it just can’t happen,” he said.
“There is a litany of white-collar crimes, digital crimes in the history of this country and this world of some very sophisticated people and the victims didn’t recognize it until some future time,” the state senator added. “I think it’s really, really dangerous for us to say, ‘It can’t happen.'”
Speaking on the same day that Washington was abuzz with news that multiple federal agencies had fallen victim to a cyberattack, Borrelli noted that “[n]othing’s 100 percent secure. If people want to cheat they’re going to cheat.”
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