Arizona’s Maricopa County approves $3M for new vote-counting machines

Arizona’s Maricopa County approved nearly $3 million for new vote-counting machines after being told the current machines had to be replaced due to the GOP-led audit of the 2020 presidential election results.

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted to amend its current contract with Dominion Voting Systems to purchase the new equipment during a Wednesday morning meeting.

Supervisors said in late June that they would replace the voting machines that were turned over to the state Senate as part of the audit, vowing to not use the subpoenaed equipment for elections ever again.

Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) advised the panel to replace the machines in May due to concerns about the “security and integrity of these machines.”

Hobbs said “the chain of custody, a critical security tenet, has been compromised and election officials do not know what was done to the machines while under Cyber Ninjas’ control.” 

Aside from the audit, elections are being held across Maricopa County this upcoming November.

The equipment is expected to cost $2.8 million, according to records on the county’s website. 

The county said in a statement that it will acquire 385 new precinct tabulators and 9 new center counters, as well as the election management hardware to run them. The total cost of the contract, which expires in December 2022, will be raised from $6.1 million to $9 million.

The state Senate ordered the audit of 2.1 million ballots cast amid outcomes in the 2020 presidential election.

President Biden won the Grand Canyon State by just under 11,000 votes over former President Trump, the first time a Democratic presidential candidate won the state since 1996.

The House Oversight and Reform Committee announced Wednesday that it is launching an investigation into the audit.