Photo by Courtney Pedroza for the Washington Post
- Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich may file an action in the state Supreme Court if the board does not comply with subpoenas.
- Subpoenas issued by the Arizona Senate request the board turn over ballots, routers, and other records.
- Board Chairman Jack Sellers has condemned the state's election audit of Maricopa County.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
In an August 6 letter, the Arizona Attorney General's office said that it is investigating the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors' failure to comply with election audit-related subpoenas issued by the state Senate, according to a tweet by State Sen. Kelli Ward.
-Dr. Kelli Ward 🇺🇸 (@kelliwardaz) August 8, 2021
If his office finds that the board has violated a provision of state law or the Arizona Constitution by not complying with the subpoenas, Republican Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich will file an action in the Arizona State Supreme Court, allowing the board 30 days to resolve the violation, the letter said. The state treasurer will be notified to withhold and redistribute money designated for Maricopa County if the board fails to remedy the violation in time, according to the letter.
Earlier this year, the state's GOP-controlled Senate selected private firm Cyber Ninjas to carry out another count of ballots in Maricopa County. On July 26, the state Senate issued a series of subpoenas to the board of supervisors asking it to turn over all ballot envelopes or images of them, routers, network logs, and all county registered voter records to date.
Board Chairman Jack Sellers condemned the audit in his response, stating that the board has "little time to entertain this adventure in never-never land." Sellers concluded his response by asking the auditors to release their report and be prepared to defend any accusations in court.
The attorney general's letter concluded by requesting a written response from the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors by 5 p.m. on Friday, August 20.