There has been a dispute between the Arizona Senate and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors over vote audit.
In the Republican-majority State of Arizona, the Senate has threatened to arrest supervisors for not following the subpoenas’ requests and access to voting machines. The Arizona Senate is interested in conducting an election audit.
If the supervisors do not comply with the demands, many Senators want them arrested, as the lawmakers can vote on the contempt grounds. If the lawmakers proceeded with contempt resolution, it would be the first-of-its-kind proceedings in Arizona.
The election audit is a two-step process. In the first step, the votes are counted manually. The second step involves the inspection of the counting machines.
To ascertain the accuracy of the manual counting the supervisors have examined a percentage of votes and found it 100% accurate. The audit of the machines has also confirmed that the counting machines also worked flawlessly.
During the elections, political parties appoint representatives to keep a check on the accuracy of the counting mechanism.
However, the Republican senators want an audit of their own, not only checking the accuracy level of the counting machines but having access to manual counting as well.
To achieve this, in December Republican Senators called on supervisors by issuing subpoenas to gain access to the vote-counting machines.
In response, the Maricopa County supervisors contacted the court to decide on the matter. According to supervisors, such subpoenas that demand copies of the ballots violate the law of the state.
Amid all this legal battle, the Arizona Senate has moved to vote on the contempt if the supervisors fail to comply with their demands.
It is pertinent to note that President Biden had won this state with a close margin. Even minor miscalculations could have turned the election results.
This is why after Biden’s win, the former President Trump came up with allegations of voting fraud and demanded a legal investigation in the matter. Despite repeated reassurances from the supervisors – of voting accuracy, the Republican Senators are not convinced.
This is why the Senate wants a more thorough analysis of the counting process. There is a divided opinion over the issue of whether the law allows unsealing the ballots once the results are certified or lawmakers have the power to gain access.
