Maricopa County approves $3 million for new voting machines after audit

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona’s largest county approved nearly $3 million Wednesday for new vote-counting machines to replace those used in the 2020 election, which were given to legislative Republicans for a partisan review of the results.

The GOP-controlled Maricopa County Board of Supervisors said the machines were compromised because they were in the control of firms not accredited to handle election equipment. Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, had said she would seek to decertify the machines if the county planned to use them again.

State Senate Republicans used their subpoena power to take control of Maricopa County’s voting machines after former President Donald Trump claimed without evidence that the 2020 election was rigged against him in Arizona and other battleground states.

The Senate hired Cyber Ninjas, a small cybersecurity consulting firm led by a Trump supporter who has spread conspiracy theories backing Trump’s false claims of fraud, to recount all 2.1 million ballots and forensically review voting machines, servers and other data. The firm had no prior experience in elections, and experts in election administration say it’s not following reliable procedures.