Maricopa County election officials have released their election machine forensic audit and concluded there were no election irregularities.
Two county election department officials announced the findings in a Tuesday letter sent to the Board of Supervisors. The forensic audit, which is comprised of three separate audits, was performed by two United States Elections Assistance Commission Voting System Testing Laboratories and a certified public accounting firm.
The first two parts of the audit, completed by Voting System Testing Laboratories Pro V&V and SLI Compliance, found that the Dominion software, which has been the target of conspiracy theories, was not compromised. The final part of the audit is expected to be completed at the end of March by Barry Dunn.
The audit had four objectives: Determine if the installed software was certified by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and the Arizona secretary of state, to determine if any malware was installed on the system or the equipment, to determine if the vote tabulators were connected to the internet, and to perform a logic and accuracy test to determine if votes could be switched from one candidate to another.
Both company’s audits found that the counties were using certified software. Neither found any malware nor evidence of an internet connection. Pro V&V’s audit found no problems with the numbers, while that was out of the scope of the SLI Compliance audit.
“The results of the independent forensic audit in Maricopa County are yet another validation that Dominion’s machines counted votes accurately in the 2020 election,” a spokesperson for Dominion told the Washington Examiner. “The audit reaffirms what election officials and experts around the country already know: there was no hacking, manipulation, or vote switching on Dominion machines. Dominion machines meet rigorous federal and state certification standards. Hundreds of hand counts and independent audits continue to prove the accuracy of our systems.”
“This latest audit adds to the substantial body of evidence confirming the falsity of the lies being told about Dominion,” the representative added. “It should serve as a further warning to those who have spread, and who will spread, defamatory disinformation under the false guise of expressing ‘concerns’ for the process: you will be held accountable for your false statements.”
The Arizona state GOP didn’t respond to requests for comment about the results of the audit.
The Board of Supervisors has been at odds with the state Legislature, which began its own audit days after the board members announced theirs on Jan. 27, after they claimed Maricopa was not satisfying lawmakers’ demands for a “deep forensic audit.”
The Republicans in the Legislature sought to hold the board in contempt, but the effort failed by one vote earlier this month.
Since the election, many Republican officials in the state questioned the integrity of the vote, especially in Maricopa, the state’s most populous county. Dominion Voting Systems machines were used in the election, and the company has become the target of conspiracy theories contending President Biden did not win the election against former President Donald Trump.
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Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, Trump-aligned lawyer Sidney Powell, and Trump ally Mike Lindell are each facing $1.3 billion defamation lawsuits filed by Dominion because of their claims that the company’s machines were somehow rigged.
Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward, an ardent supporter of Trump who has repeatedly promoted conspiracies about the election outcome, was warned by Dominion about potential litigation over those claims.
The letter, dated from Dec. 28, said, “Dominion is prepared to defend its good name and set the record straight. Litigation regarding these issues is imminent. This letter is your formal notice to cease and desist taking part in defaming Dominion and to preserve all documents and communications that may be relevant to Dominion’s pending legal claims.”
