by Natalia Mittelstadt
The Arizona Secretary of State and Maricopa County worked together to censor information about the state’s audit of the county’s 2020 elections and reported elected officials’ posts to social media companies.
Maricopa County and the Arizona Secretary of State’s office worked with third parties to censor social media content that they believed contained misinformation regarding the 2020 Maricopa County election audit and election information posted by elected officials, according to public records obtained from Maricopa County and the Arizona Secretary of State through The Gavel Project.
September 24, 2021 Republican-controlled Arizona Senate published the findings its months-long audit of 2020 election results in Maricopa County. The audit found that the claim that President Joe Biden won Arizona was right, but also included tens of thousands of ballots that were suspicious and required further investigation.
Over 50,000 ballots marked by auditors further investigation looked at issues ranging from people voting from addresses they had already moved from to residents voting twice. The vote total was almost five times the 10,400-vote margin shared by the two presidential candidates, giving Donald Trump’s troops recent reason to call for closer scrutiny.
One week before Maricopa County’s 2020 election audit results are released. Facebook responded to the office of then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) regarding “any critical concerns or potential needs prior to the release of the election audit.”
A liaison for the social media company said they “will continue to have dedicated teams monitoring our platforms and the situation on the ground” and that they are “coordinating closely with Maricopa County and will continue to have open lines of communication with them during this time.”
The Secretary of State responded by writing: “The primary concern we face on Friday is the outpouring of disinformation that may emerge during the Senate hearing this afternoon. And, of course, the potential for additional threats and harassment. I also contacted Maricopa and they said they had expressed similar concerns and had already contacted you.”
Both Maricopa County and the Secretary of State have worked with social media companies to monitor information regarding the 2022 midterm elections.
In August 2022, Maricopa County and the Arizona Secretary of State discussed coordinating a meeting via Facebook and Twitter to “talk to them about how the primary went and hear from them about their plans for the general,” the deputy secretary of state wrote. .
“We will then invite them to a communications meeting in September so they can share their election plans with counties,” he added. – added the deputy secretary of state.
Earlier this month, Secretary of informed the state office AND tweet posted by the Arizona GOP as “disinformation”. The reads the tweet“Pinal County places some of the blame for running out of ballots on the Secretary of State @KatieHobbs‘ office. The clerk says the ballot count formulas were received from Hobbs’ office. Hobbs can’t handle his current job… How can he ask anyone for a promotion #AZGOW?”
The office contacted the Center for Internet Security about the tweet, which responded that the report had been forwarded to Twitter. The tweet is still up on Twitter.
Secretary of State and County also reported posts by elected officials to social media companies.
In a November 2020 email to Facebook, the Secretary of State said: post by then-Senator-elect Kelly Townsend (R), writing that it “perpetuates a number of debunked/debunked theories about the Arizona election. This is content that includes misrepresenting who can vote, eligibility to vote, whether a vote will be counted, and what information and/or materials must be provided in order to vote.”
Post on Facebookwhich, after listing alleged problems with the election, called for a “recount and forensic audit of the 2020 general election,” still appears on Townsend’s account with a fact check attached.
Maricopa County discussed controlling elected officials over their social media content.
Following an email discussion about the county’s response to a reporter, the county’s communications director wrote in an email to other county employees dated April 11, 2022: “In my opinion, the biggest discussion on the county/board side is whether to call/ “hold accountable elected officials who engage in this disinformation.”
The county too monitored YouTube videos which featured Senator Sonny Borrelli (R).
“Senator Borelli [sic] appeared in a video and repeated a statement that audit proponents make about routers,” – wrote the district communication officer in an email dated May 11, 2021. “He essentially repeated misinformation regarding the router and alleged that there is something that the “Board of Supervisors has something to hide.”
In the July 16, 2021 email, the communications professional also wrote that Borrelli “alleged there is an active conspiracy between the Secretary of State and the Board of Supervisors to ‘suppress’ audit work.”
Maricopa County’s communications director also expressed disappointment with the way the news outlet reported information about the 2020 election and audit.
On December 21, 2021, Maricopa County’s communications director wrote to the executive director of news at Arizona’s Family: “We in Maricopa County are extremely disappointed with the recent interview with Senate President Karen Fann and Senator Rick Gray.”
“They were allowed to continue to spread disinformation about the 2020 general election unchecked during a published interview, and there was no apparent fact-checking in the online article despite our public website dedicated to the truth about election operations at JustTheFacts. Vote,” the district continued.
“Maricopa County demands that the AZ family apply the attached statement to publish explanatory stories on television during the same programs that originally aired the interview. The online story should also be updated to reflect the content of this statement and the fact that AZ Family did not investigate the original story. We expect that you will be provided an opportunity for an interview of similar length and promotion following the county’s official response to the Cyber Ninja report,” Maricopa County added.
Arizona’s Family responded by adding Maricopa County’s “points from your statement to the article” and offered the county “the same interview opportunity.”
The Maricopa County Board of Elections, Board of Supervisors and Maricopa County Recorder’s Office told Just the News in a statement Tuesday: “The County does not ‘censor’ content posted on social media. We have a responsibility to ensure that voters have access to accurate information. We would never question that people have the right to freedom of speech. If free speech endangers employees or releases completely inaccurate information to the public, the county will address these inaccuracies by contacting those posting the misinformation and, when they are unwilling to make corrections, will work with the media to ensure correct information is shared with the public.”
“You should be aware that the article referenced in one of the email chains you attached included a photo and name of an employee, which resulted in threats to her around the time the article was published. I’m sure you can see why this applies to the county.
The secretary of state and the governor’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
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Natalia Mittelstadt is a reporter for Just the News.
