Maricopa County’s vote-counting machines were not connected to the internet during the 2020 election, an independent review has found, further undercutting claims by former President Donald Trump and his allies that the results were “rigged.”
A trio of technology experts overseen by an impartial special master found no evidence of an internet connection, according to results of the review released Wednesday.
That echoes the county’s long-standing position as well as the findings of independent audits the county conducted a year ago. It also dispels unproven theories from election deniers that the tabulation machines were hooked up to the internet and therefore susceptible to hacking to throw the election to Joe Biden.
Biden won Maricopa County by 45,109 votes, according to the official results.
The review resulted from a settlement last fall between the county and the Senate after months of feuding over the routers.
Former U.S. Congressman John Shadegg was hired as the “special master” to oversee the latest review. He, in turn, hired three technology experts who examined the equipment in mid-February and then each submitted their own independent findings to Shadegg.
The three each reached the same conclusion: No internet connection, Shadegg wrote in the report.
“There is no electronic connection between the BTC (the county’s ballot tabulation center) and the MCTEC (Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center), either wired or through a wireless protocol,” the report concludes.
There are no routers in the tabulation center, the report states. There were no Splunk logs to track internet activity because the was no internet connection, and the county’s voter-registration database is never sent electronically to the tabulation center, as the Arizona Constitution has privacy requirements that would bar such transmission.
Whether the router review concludes the Senate’s examination of the 2020 election is unclear: Earlier this week, Sen. Kelly Townsend, R-Apache Junction, issued a subpoena for county officials to appear before her Senate Government Committee on Monday. She is demanding answers to questions that state Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s office posed to the county, but which have gone unanswered.
County officials said they received the questions less than two weeks earlier and are working on a response, noting they will respond within a “reasonable period of time as prescribed by Arizona law.”
Report follows Cyber Ninjas review
The router report comes six months after the Senate’s contractor for a review of 2.1 million Maricopa County ballots found no fraud in the November 2020 election.
The Cyber Ninjas’ report concluded Biden defeated Trump in Maricopa County by a slightly larger margin than the county’s certified results. However, the Ninjas’ report raised questions about election processes — issues that Senate President Karen Fann forwarded to Brnovich for an investigation that is still underway.
In a statement, Bill Gates, a Republican who chairs the county Board of Supervisors, said “the unanimous conclusions of this expert panel should be a final stake in the heart of the Senate’s so-called ‘audit.'”
“Whenever impartial, independent, and competent people have examined the County’s election practices, they have found no reason to doubt the integrity of those practices. The Board of Supervisors remains committed to free and fair elections that conform to federal and state laws.”
Reach the reporters at maryjo.pitzl@arizonarepublic.com and ronald.hansen@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4493. Follow them on Twitter @maryjpitzl and @ronaldjhansen.
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