Last Updated on May 19, 2021
Forensic analysis firm CyFIR’s founder confirmed this week that the primary database for the the Maricopa County presidential election, which had been deleted at some point, has successfully been recovered and is now undergoing data continuity checks to ensure that the data is useful.
Though Democrat officials have insisted that the Database directory on the primary EMS server has not been deleted, and that claims as such were right-wing conspiracies, CyFIR’s Ben Cotton confirmed during a special hearing on Wednesday that the database had in fact been deleted. The recovery of the database initially spawned false proclamations from left-wing media that the data had never been deleted in the first place.
“Maricopa County did not delete files when preparing the subpoenaed SQL server for delivery,” the Maricopa County Election Board insisted in a lengthy tweet thread accompanied by verbose graphics on Wednesday. However, a statement from Cottton swiftly debunked false information from left-wing media.
“Statement from Ben Cotton of Cyfir: My testimony on May 19th before the AZ Senate is being taken out of context by some media outlets. To confirm: the ‘Databases’ directory on the EMS Primary Server WAS deleted containing the voting databases,” the statement read. “I was able to recover the deleted databases through forensic data recovery processes. We are performing data continuity checks to ensure that the recovered databases are usable.”
2/2) I was able to recover the deleted databases through forensic data recovery processes. We are performing data continuity checks to ensure that the recovered databases are usable.
— Maricopa Arizona Audit (@ArizonaAudit) May 19, 2021
As National File previously reported, officials have confirmed that a massive breach of voter data in Maricopa County prior to the presidential election, where Democrat Joe Biden took the county by a narrow margin:
Arizona Republican party chair Kelli Ward stated on Thursday that Maricopa County recorder Stephen Richer learned of a significant “breach of voter identification information” last year, a breach that is currently being investigated by law enforcement officials. In November 2020, federal agents raided a home in Maricopa County looking for stolen voter data after the Maricopa County Recorder’s office confirmed that voter data had been stolen.
“Beyond the actual recounting of each and every ballot, there is new information coming to light each and every day, as to how poorly the election in November was supervised in Maricopa County and in Arizona,” Ward continued. “Election officials say they didn’t have access to passwords that are critical, critical equipment, but outside vendors like Dominion did. Routers weren’t secure and may have been used to allow access to a network of county offices. And now Maricopa County recorder Stephen Richer has revealed in a letter to voters that he learned, prior to his term, a breach of voter identification information occurred last election cycle and is now being investigated by law enforcement.”
On November 5, 2020, the FBI raided the home of an IT expert named Elliot Kerwin after a cyberattack that resulted in the theft of Maricopa County voter data was reported by the county Recorder’s office. According to Forbes, the agents confiscated “eight hard drives, three computers and a bag of USB sticks. ”
