OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Democratic election officials in several major states are claiming that election machines and equipment that has been audited must be retired.
Several of these Democratic election officials are claiming that machines and equipment audited from the 2020 presidential election must be discarded and replaced at significant cost.
In a letter to the Fulton County Board of Elections, Acting Pennsylvania Secretary of State Veronica Degraffenreid said that the Dominion voting machines would be decertified after being audited by software company Wake TSI.
The company was contracted following a request from Republican State Sen. Doug Mastriano and from Fulton County election officials.
Fulton County officials allowed Wake TSI to access certain components of their election system, including their “election database, results files, and Windows system logs.”
Degraffenreid said she “had no choice” but to decertify the machines because she claims the Republican-led audit was “not transparent or bipartisan.”
“I have no other choice but to decertify the use of Fulton County’s leased Dominion Democracy Suite 5.5A voting system last used in the November 2020 election,” Degraffenreid wrote.
The audit was ordered by Pennsylvania Republican State Sen. Doug Mastriano, who announced a few weeks ago that he was going to launch a “forensic investigation of the 2020 General Election and 2021 Primary.”
While claiming that Fulton’s election system “has been compromised,” DeGraffenreid did not explain specifically how the system’s integrity had been violated.
A similar action is taking place in Maricopa County, Arizona.
Maricopa County officials announced late last month that voting machines subpoenaed by the Arizona Senate for its audit of the 2020 election will not be used in the future.
Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel announced that it was required to obtain “385 new precinct tabulators and 9 new central counters as well as the election management hardware required to run them,” a move that would cost “from $6.1 million to $9.0 million.”
“The voters of Maricopa County can rest assured, the County will never use equipment that could pose a risk to free and fair elections. The County recognizes Secretary Hobbs’ authority under A.R.S. § 16-442 to certify equipment for use in Arizona’s elections. As a result, the County will not use the subpoenaed equipment in any future elections,” the county said in a statement on Monday.
“Maricopa County noted this potential risk in February when it asked the court for guidance on the Senate subpoenas. Since then, the County has implemented backup plans that include acquiring new tabulation equipment for the March and May jurisdictional elections in 2021,” the statement added.
Neither Maricopa County nor Pennsylvania officials seem to have provided any clear response as to what has led them to decertify the machines.
Arizona was arguably one of the most important states in the 2020 presidential election.
Even seven months later, a battle is on to audit and examine just what went on in November in the battleground state.
