Dem Maricopa Sheriff Suggests Releasing Router Information for Audit Could ‘Jeopardize’ Law Enforcement Activities

After lawyers with the GOP-controlled Arizona Senate sent an email to Maricopa County officials on yesterday morning demanding access to router information by the end of the day or face subpoenas on Monday to explain their position while under oath, Democratic Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone released a puzzling statement suggesting that it could “jeopardize” law enforcement activities.

Republican State Senator Wendy Rogers shared the statement from Penzone and tweeted, “Huh?”

Huh? 🤔 🤷🏼‍♀️ https://t.co/9sIq64Ezyp

— Wendy Rogers (@WendyRogersAZ) May 8, 2021

The sheriff wrote in the statement that the audit’s most recent demands “jeopardize the entire mission of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office” and that access to the information “would adversely affect” his team’s ability “to protect critical evidence, data shared between law enforcement agencies, protected private information and individual passwords, all of which could be used to the detriment of citizens and law enforcement infrastructure.”

Penzone also mentioned briefing the Senate Republican caucus “on the horrendous consequences of this demand and the breadth of its negative impact on public safety in this County.”

In another clear example of Penzone’s partisanship, following the guilty verdict in the trial of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, the sheriff tweeted, “Our judicial system may not be perfect, but it was designed to seek justice. Today, justice was served.”

Our judicial system may not be perfect, but it was designed to seek justice. Today, justice was served.

— Paul Penzone (@Penzone4sheriff) April 20, 2021

From the Washington Examiner:

“Providing them or their virtual images could jeopardize the security of law enforcement data and programs, as well as Maricopa County citizens’ financial, health care, and other private information,” Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel wrote.

In the email, Adel also said the county has already produced every password and security key for tabulators in its possession, which was another demand by the state State, and noted the county is “working with knowledgeable personnel to determine if there is a safe manner to get the Senate the information about the November 3, 2020 election without jeopardizing this other information.”

Adel concluded: “We have been unable to do that by close of business today.”

The emails between lawyers for the state Senate and Maricopa County were shared on Twitter by 12 News reporter Brahm Resnik.

The audit, which started on April 23 and is centered at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, followed a legal battle between Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, and the GOP-led state Senate, during which a judge found the Legislature’s subpoenas of election materials and equipment “legal and enforceable.”

Ken Bennett, a former Republican secretary of state in Arizona who is serving as the Republican-led state Senate’s audit liaison, told Just the News that a subpoena demanded “access or control of all routers and tabulators … used in connection with the administration of the 2020 election,” along with “the public IP of the [routers].”

After Democrats filed a lawsuit to try and stop the audit, an effort that led to a settlement this week, Democratic Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and the U.S. Justice Department sent letters raising concerns about the process.

Arizona Senate President Karen Fann said in a letter to DOJ that the plan to contact residents about their voting history is “indefinitely” on hold. She said the decision was made “weeks ago,” although it was not revealed until after the Justice Department said the canvass could violate federal laws that bar voter intimidation. Fann added that if a canvass is deemed necessary by the state Senate, “its vendor will implement detailed requirements to ensure that the canvassing is conducted in a manner that complies fully with the commands of the United States Constitution and federal and state civil rights laws,” and she included a list of conditions.