ARIZONA: Brnovich Issues Spoliation Letter to Maricopa County, Orders Preservation Of Election Data and Equipment

Last Updated on September 29, 2021

The office of Arizona’s Attorney General Mark Brnovich has sent the first demand letter to Maricopa County, requesting documents, election equipment, and CCTV footage of their offices, among other items.

With the findings of the forensic audit into Maricopa County’s election released to the Arizona Senate on Friday, Senate President Karen Fann referred them to the state’s Attorney General, Mark Brnovich, for further investigation. This week, the first demand letter was sent from his office asking for multiple documents relating to the election, in what appears to be the start of the investigation from the recently created Elections Integrity Unit.

In a preservation of evidence letter sent to Maricopa County from Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Wright, it was confirmed that the Elections Integrity Unit would require access to “documents, files, and related information during the course of review that is potentially relevant to the 2020 General Election and is currently under the direct or indirect custody and care of the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, Maricopa County Elections Department, and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.”

The evidence that Brnovich’s office requested included:

• Hard copies of all documents and other electronically stored information.
• Electronic communications, including emails and the devices used for messaging.
• Electronic data from computers, election systems, spreadsheets and databases, among others.
• Telephone logs and network access information.
• All the equipment used in the election, such as voting machines.
• All physical records, including ballots and voter registration forms.
• All video footage from Maricopa County’s election centre.
• Access records for all buildings maintained by the county during the election.

Let’s roll! 🚔 🚨 pic.twitter.com/nSl0kY2IET

— Wendy Rogers (@WendyRogersAZ) September 28, 2021

The letter from Brnovich requested that Maricopa County interpret the demand “liberally,” and should “retain all relevant data [to the election] whether or not such information has been delineated in this letter.” All employees of Maricopa should be made aware of the demands, and the County should take “all actions necessary” to ensure compliance of the letter.

Brnovich himself has come under severe scrutiny from election integrity advocates, with Blake Masters, who is running against him for the Arizona Senate seat, slamming him for his “track record of doing the bare minimum” when it comes to fixing the broken election system and stopping voter fraud. After the 2020 election, he completely denied the existence of any voter fraud or election issues. As National File reported:

Brnovich declared that he agreed with “what the election officials have said” and told the press that he would “take them at their word” when it came to their claims that no fraud happened in 2020. He denied any possibility of any “conspiracy” to steal the 2020 election, claiming that any such efforts would somehow hurt Joe Biden and the Democrats “equally.”

Because of the inaction of Brnovich – the top law enforcement official in the state – the Trump campaign had to become directly involved, taking legal action without help from Brnovich. Despite the Trump campaign seeking redress for what happened, Brnovich again spoke to the media and reaffirmed his faith in the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. He had already accepted Biden’s so-called victory in the state, after all.

The AZ audit findings have been referred to the Attorney General. The ball is now in Brnovich's court. He has a track record of doing the bare minimum, so let’s pay attention, and we’ll see if the Republican establishment is serious about election integrity. https://t.co/4sCpjMvRYq

— Blake Masters (@bgmasters) September 25, 2021