The defiance of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and Dominion Voting Systems of the Arizona legislature’s legal and Constitutional authority to conduct an unprecedented audit of the 2020 Maricopa County election is an ongoing and embarrassing source of shame for the people of the Grand Canyon state. The continuing standoff between a county board, acting more like a petulant council of children, and a state legislature conducting itself like a long-suffering soccer-mom who refuses to lay down the law seems to be coming to a head now.
MCBoS Chairman Jack Sellers, as the deadline for a repeated set of subpoenas from the Senate, expired with the board refusing to comply, answered the legislature’s command with the following massively unprofessional, disrespectful, dismissive, condescending, insulting, and insubordinate letter.
“Dear Senators,
It is now August of 2021. the election of November 2020 is over. If you haven’t figured out that the election in Maricopa County was free, fair, and accurate yet, I’m not sure you ever will. The reason you haven’t finished your “audit” is because you hired people who have no experience and little understanding of how professional elections are run.
The Board has real work to do and little time to entertain this adventure in never-never land. Please finish whatever it is that you are doing and release whatever it is you are going to release. I am confident that our staff and volunteers ran the election as prescribed by federal and state law. There was no fraud, there wasn’t an injection of ballots from Asia nor was there a satellite that beamed votes into our election equipment. It’s time for all elected officials to tell the truth and stop encouraging conspiracies.
Release your report and be prepared to defend any accusations of misdeeds in court. It’s time to move on.
Sincerely,
Jack Sellers,
Chairman, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.”
Perhaps the Hon. Chairman @jacksellers has forgotten that the Arizona Legislature created Maricopa County & can very easily terminate his office or even the whole county? (Ariz. Terr. Laws 1871, 6th assy./ pp. 53-54) We're past #Contempt of the legislature this is insubordination https://t.co/PmzPpCf14L
— MattHolloway? (@TheHollowNet) August 2, 2021
The response from Dominion Voting Systems wasn’t much better. According to The Arizona Republic and The Hill, “Dominion outright refused to comply with the subpoena, saying in a letter that the request “violates (the company’s) constitutional rights and … exceeds the Legislature’s constitutional and statutory authority. Doing so would cause grave harm.” They are essentially hiding behind the “proprietary information” defense.
Responses From The Arizona Senate Were Immediate And Appropriately Harsh
Several of the more conservative members of the Arizona Senate took almost immediately to Twitter and other social media platforms to air their rejection of this behavior and establish what the consequences will be. Dr. Kelli Ward, Chair of the Arizona GOP wrote “This BS is the “official reply” from Maricopa County to the lawful subpoenas issued by the AZ State Senate. They must be held accountable.”
In a statement published on Twitter, Senator Sonny Borrelli wrote,
“Today I submitted a request for the Arizona Attorney General to investigate the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors for their failure to comply with subpoenas from the State Senate. The supervisors are acting as if they are above the law, and it is an insult to the citizens of our state.
President Fann has handled this process professionally and she has tried to bee diplomatic while dealing with the attacks and insults from the Board. Enough is enough! The level of disrespect and contempt from the supervisors toward Senate leadership and Arizona voters is appalling.
Yesterday the Board of Supervisors ignored the subpoena deadline and failed to provide the routers used in the November election. They failed to provide passwords and security keys required to access tabulation devices. They failed to provide splunk logs and similar data.
I respectfully request the Attorney General investigate this clear violation of the law. Arizonans expect no less.”
Real Consequences For Maricopa County Supervisors Seem Unlikely
Senators Wendy Rogers and Kelly Townsend have taken even firmer stances calling for the arrest of the Board of Supervisors as well as Dominion’s principal officers to mostly positive responses from angered Arizonans.
I would like to know if we have enough solitary confinement cells in Arizona available for the entire Maricopa Board of Supervisors and the execs at the fraud machine company. We are going to need a lot.
— Wendy Rogers (@WendyRogersAZ) August 2, 2021
Senator Townsend made a statement via Twitter with a very direct answer to why these arrests have not yet taken place, and the responsibility rests on the shoulders of a single man: Senator Pual D. Boyer representing Arizona’s District 20, centered on the City of Glendale.
Senator Townsend wrote,
“What is the reason we haven’t arrested the Maricopa County Supervisors, you ask? A.R.S.41-1153 requires a majority vote (16) to hold them in contempt. AZ has a 1 seat majority, cannot afford to lose one R vote, but we only have 15, with Senator @PaulDBoyer voting no. It’s on him.”
Given that the Senate is not currently in session and will not be until at least January 2022 and Senator Boyer, who has been a vocal opponent of the audit withholding his vote, could delay any response for at least five months, and possibly prevent any real consequences from occurring at all.
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