An elections cybersecurity official who served under the Obama and Trump administrations said a screenshot allegedly showing deleted files during the Maricopa County 2020 election audit seems to check out.
According to the expert, the deleted files could have been a “duplicate” a post-election “Logic and Accuracy” test, agreeing with speculation from Senate Liaison Ken Bennett.
Arizona State Senate President Karen Fann penned a letter Wednesday that in part claimed an entire database in the Election Management System had been “deleted” — information which appears to be covered by the Senate’s subpoena.
Jack Sellers, chair of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, denied the allegations and demanded a retraction.
As highlighted by CNN, Fann’s letter “included a screen shot which Fann claimed was evidence of deleted election files.”
A Twitter account cited by The Washington Post, Maricopa Arizona Election, posted the screenshot with the caption: “Breaking Update: Maricopa County deleted a directory full of election databases from the 2020 election cycle days before the election equipment was delivered to the audit. This is spoliation of evidence!”
Bennett said the account is run by volunteers and “could have been worded differently,” though he agreed the screenshot showed evidence of “deleted files.”
“The tweet could have been worded differently but I thought it was correct that there was deleted files,” Bennett said, according to CNN. “We didn’t say there was anything malicious. Maybe it was deleted because it was a duplicate of something that was elsewhere.”
Breaking Update: Maricopa County deleted a directory full of election databases from the 2020 election cycle days before the election equipment was delivered to the audit. This is spoliation of evidence! pic.twitter.com/mY0fmmFXAm
— Maricopa Arizona Audit (@ArizonaAudit) May 13, 2021
Elections cybersecurity official Matt Masterson agreed with Bennett, CNN reported:
Matt Masterson, an elections cybersecurity official who served under both the Obama and Trump administrations, supported that theory, telling CNN the screenshot looked like it was a duplicate of one of the two post-election “Logic and Accuracy” tests run by the county.
CNN noted that Bennett added, “We tweet out that there is an explanation and there is no spoliation of evidence at all.”
As The Daily Wire highlighted, the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) recently attempted to stop the election auditing efforts, sending a letter to the president of the Arizona State Senate suggesting the recount is illegal.
The Washington Post reported that the DOJ letter raises “the possibility of a clash between state and federal authorities over the audit.”
Penned by Pamela S. Karlan, who heads the DOJ’s civil rights division, the letter suggests “that the recount of nearly 2.1 million ballots in Maricopa County by a private contractor may not comply with federal law, which requires that ballots be securely maintained for 22 months following a federal election,” the Post noted.
“We have a concern that Maricopa County election records, which are required by federal law to be retained and preserved, are no longer under the ultimate control of elections officials, are not being adequately safeguarded by contractors, and are at risk of damage or loss,” wrote Karlan.
Back in February, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Timothy Thomason disagreed with Karlan’s current analysis. The Daily Wire reported:
Senate Republicans and the GOP-dominated Maricopa County Board of Supervisors disagreed about the accessibility of the ballots; the Senate wanted to perform an audit to address election integrity concerns from constituents, whereas the board argued the ballots, by law, were to be kept secret for 24 months following the election. The judge scolded the parties for failing to come to an agreement on their own but sided with the Senate, suggesting the law in question does not conflict with the subpoenas.
“There is no question that the Senators have the power to issue legislative subpoenas,” Judge Thomason wrote at the time, according to The Associated Press. “The Subpoenas comply with the statutory requirements for legislative subpoenas. The Senate also has broad constitutional power to oversee elections.”
“The Arizona legislature clearly has the power to investigate and examine election reform matters,” the ruling said. “The Subpoenas also do not violate separation of powers principles. Production of the subpoenaed materials would not violate confidentiality laws.”