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Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 1 of 30 Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 1:30 PM BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Maricopa County, Arizona (and the Boards of Directors of the Flood Control District, Library District, Stadium District, Improvement Districts and/or Board of Deposit) Board Members Bill Gates, Chairman, District 3 Clint Hickman, Vice Chairman, District 4 Jack Sellers, District 1 Thomas Galvin, District 2 Steve Gallardo, District 5 County Manager Joy Rich Clerk of the Board Juanita Garza Meeting Location Supervisors' Auditorium 205 W. Jefferson Phoenix, AZ 85003 "The mission of Maricopa County is to provide regional leadership and fiscally responsible, necessary public services to its residents so they can enjoy living in healthy and safe communities” BOARD OF SUPERVISORS The Board of Supervisors of Maricopa County, Phoenix, Arizona, convened in Special Session at 1:30 PM on Wednesday, January 5, 2022, in the Supervisors' Auditorium, 205 W. Jefferson, Phoenix, AZ 85003, with the following members present: Bill Gates, Chairman, District 3; Clint Hickman, Vice Chairman, District 4; Jack Sellers, Supervisor, District 1; Thomas Galvin, Supervisor, District 2; Steve Gallardo, Supervisor, District 5 (remote). Also present: Juanita Garza, Clerk; Kelly Gardiner, Minutes Coordinator; Andrea Cummings, Legal Counsel (remote). PRESENTATION 1. MARICOPA COUNTY’S RESPONSE TO THE ARIZONA SENATE’S INQUIRY Presentation from the Elections Department and Recorder’s Office to review findings from an in-depth analysis of the Arizona Senate’s Inquiry of Maricopa County’s administration of the 2020 General Election. Scott Jarrett, Elections Director, In-Person Voting and Tabulation, Elections Department Nate Young, Information Technology Director, Recorder’s Office Janine Petty, Senior Director of Voter Registration, Recorder’s Office Celia Nabor, Assistant Director of Early Voting, Elections Department (C-06-22-424-X-00) Chairman Gates opened the meeting and welcomed Recorder Stephen Richer to the dais and announced the meeting was being held so Maricopa County residents would have an opportunity to hear, in detail, the County’s response to the Senate inquiry subpoenas concerning the 2020 General Election. He stated the report from the Elections Department is available on the Elections Department website at justthefacts.vote. Chairman Gates introduced Scott Jarrett, Co-Director of the Elections Department, who would be making this presentation. He also thanked Mr. Jarrett and the entire Elections Department staff for their painstaking work producing the report being presented for this presentation. The Chairman informed Mr. Jarrett he would be asked questions throughout the presentation of the report. Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 2 of 30 Mr. Jarrett began by stating that they were presenting the findings related to the Senate inquiry in the Maricopa County administration of the 2020 election. He explained this report is focused on three documents issued by the Senate contractors: • Cyber Ninjas volume three report which includes technical findings and claims related to the County’s tabulation equipment; • Volume three of the Cyber Ninjas response to the claims in the EchoMail Report; and • The Senate’s machine count report. Mr. Jarrett introduced Nate Young, Chief Information Officer for the Recorder’s Office; Janine Petty, Senior Director of Voter Registration; and Celia Nabor, Assistant Director of Early Voting. He said each of them would be presenting the findings within the areas they oversee. Chairman Gates reported that Supervisor Gallardo was in attendance via phone. Mr. Jarrett stated this report reflected the reasons the Elections Department is confident in the integrity of the 2020 Election. He reviewed the two slides below and covered some points he highlighting on some of the bullet points. Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote Maricopa County Elections Reliable, Secure, Transparent, Accurate RELIABLE o A Federally Accredited Voting System Laboratory completed extensive security, reliability and accuracy testing before certifying the County’s tabulation equipment o The County performed a pilot and stress test on equipment prior to awarding the contract o As required by law, the County hires bi-partisan poll workers and central boards SECURE o Daily back-ups are stored in secure vault and off-site o Tabulation center on hardwired isolated network (air gapped) o 24 – 7 Live camera feed o Restricted access o Encrypted data & memory cards o External slots are secured with tamper evident seals o Original hard copy ballots are stored under camera and in secured areas Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 3 of 30 Stephen Richer, County Recorder, asked several questions seeking clarification on several of the points being reviewed regarding the tabulation equipment. His inquiry asked if the tabulation equipment had been used in previous elections, who was responsible for certifying the tabulation equipment, logic and accuracy tests, etc. Chairman Gates asked Mr. Jarrett to confirm that the independent auditors that were brought in confirmed the election equipment had never been connected to the Internet. The independent auditors also confirmed the equipment had not been hacked and there was no malware in evidence. Mr. Jarrett explained the auditors were able to confirm this based on their expertise and detailed work. Supervisor Sellers thought it important to note that representatives from Senate President Karen Fann’s Office, the Governor’s Office, the Speaker of the House’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office were all invited to attend and witness what was happening and ask questions. Mr. Jarrett reviewed the examples on the slide below and explained in detail the process used to reveal the faulty claims. Supervisor Hickman asked for the definition of an “air-gap system” and why it is important to this report. Mr. Jarrett explained an “air-gap system” is an isolated network not connected to the Internet or any other network. Mr. Jarrett provided details on one of the false claims explaining the Senate Contractor should have been able to determine, with the information provided, the claim was faulty. For example, the paper used. The Senate contractor stated the County did not use 80-pound vote secure paper because they found ballots with bleed-through. This was a false claim because the manufacturer said there could be bleed through on 80-pound paper. Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 4 of 30 Mr. Jarrett reviewed a few things from the slide below concerning misleading claims. Mr. Jarrett noted the initial subpoenas were issued on January 12, 2021. He informed the officials he was to meet with the Senate the very next day. He explained the actions the Elections Department took going through the identifying process. The Elections Department provided thousands and thousands of records to the Senate on January 15 and January 21, 2021. Chairman Gates thanked Mr. Jarrett for his summary of the court ruling and the Board responded and chose not to appeal the ruling. The Board directed the Elections Department to hand over the records that were subpoenaed by the Senate. Chairman Gates would make the argument the record does not support the Board of Supervisors as being obstructionists. Mr. Jarrett explained what passwords they were able to turn over and the source code passwords that were not turned over and why. He explained that they do not have and never had access to the source code passwords. These are maintained by the manufacturer of the tabulation equipment. Recorder Richer pointed out that the Elections Department was expeditious in turning over the documents subpoenaed. Chairman Gates clarified that the court ruled the subpoena was a valid subpoena. The judge did not rule the County had to turn over any documents. Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 5 of 30 Mr. Jarrett reviewed the slide below describing the misleading claims made by the Senate Contractors. Mr. Jarrett reviewed the slide below noting it included four false claims made by the Cyber Ninjas regarding the printers and paper used in the 2020 election. He highlighted the different ballots that were provided to the Cyber Ninjas: Braille ballots, large ballots, ballots returned from overseas and military voters. Mr. Jarrett assured the Board every paper purchased for the November 2020 election and distributed to the vote centers was 80-pound vote secure paper, not 10 variations of paper. Supervisor Galvin asked what it meant for the printers to be out of calibration. Mr. Jarrett explained this was related to alignment marks on the paper and how they might become out of alignment when loading paper, changing toner, etc. He said even the Cyber Ninjas confirmed this did not impact the results of the election. In an effort to end further comment concerning “Sharpie Gate“ Recorder Richer pointed out in the Cyber Ninja’s report, that out of several thousand ballot images that were manually Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote Provided Documents & Logs on January 15 & January 21 The County also asked the Senate for clarification (no response) Asked for Judicial Clarification / Delivered in April 2021 as Requested by the Senate Equipment Needed for Ongoing Elections & Considered Critical Infrastructure by the Department of Homeland Security Original Ballots & Images Protected by State Law Other Items Source Code Passwords Accessible Voting Devices, Laptops, Uncured Ballots, Other Negotiated Settlement in September 2021 Routers SUBPOENAS & COOPERATION Cyber Ninjas Included Four Misleading Claims Item #1, Page 9 Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote HAND COUNT vs MACHINE COUNT Senate Contractors Included Four Misleading Claims Item #2, Page 13 Senate Count (Total Ballots) Cyber Ninjas Hand Count Presidential (Total Ballots) Difference from Senate Count U.S. Senate (Total Ballots) Difference from Senate Count 2,089,442 2,088,569 873 2,088,396 1,046 51 of 180 (28.3%) of Batches Inconsistent 1,657 absolute difference (249 net) Other Discrepancies The Cyber Ninjas’ count took six months, used procedures inconsistent with Arizona Law, changed procedures continually, and included conflicting results Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 6 of 30 reviewed, they could not find any images where bleed-through was close enough to a ballot oval to cause mis-tabulation. Mr. Jarrett confirmed this was correct. Mr. Jarrett turned the meeting over to Nate Young to address the claims against the ballot tabulation equipment used in the November 2020 election. Recorder Richer asked Mr. Young when did he joined the Recorder’s Office, and Mr. Young responded he joined the office on March 28, 2021, after the 2020 General Election. Mr. Young proceeded to review the slide below. Mr. Young stated his portion of the presentation talked about the inaccurate claims made that elections files were deleted, the EMS database was illegally purged, and why these claims were inaccurate. He highlighted the bullet points listed in the slide below. Mr. Young explained the election management system archive processes and the reasons these processes are performed, one being these machines are used for other elections. He noted the archive hard drives stored in tamper-resistant packaging for safekeeping. Mr. Young explained that during the February 2021 audits, there were two different companies that Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote Improper Paper Utilized (Cyber Ninjas Section 5.7.6) FALSE High-Bleed-Through Rates (Cyber Ninjas Section 5.7.5) FALSE Out of Calibration Ballot Printers (Cyber Ninjas Section 5.7.10) PRINTER AND PAPER CLAIMS Cyber Ninjas Included Four False Claims FALSE FALSE Questionable Ballots (Cyber Ninjas Section 5.7.13) Item #3, Page 17 Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote • Election Management System (EMS) Database and Ballot Images • Cyber Security Practices • Internet Connections • EMS Operating System Logs and Anonymous Logins • Dual Boot System “Jump Box” • Election Data From Other States CYBER NINJAS AND CYFIR CLAIMS Ballot Tabulation System Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 7 of 30 came in and performed their logic and accuracy functions. In order for these companies to perform their tasks, the data from the November 2020 election had to be archived. Supervisor Hickman expressed his concern that the Goodyear election was being held during this turmoil. He said it was important to him that there were two independent companies that flew in and performed the tasks they were paid to do. He explained these two companies did not work together. Mr. Young continued by reviewing the slide below addressing the inaccurate claims illustrated. He said he and his team were unsure how CyFir compiled the data, but CyFir had made an error. He said the images CyFir was claiming were corrupt or missing were found on the drive provided to the Arizona Senate. Mr. Young firmly stated that the claim the Election Management System (EMS) was connected to the Internet was also false. He said EMS was an air gapped network with no external connections and no routers. He explained the slide below is an illustration of an air gapped network. This information has been made public and can be found on Twitter. He Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote Inaccurate Claim: EMS Database Purged Inaccurate Claim: Election Files Deleted ELECTION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Database & Files • The Dominion system has a standard archive process • EAC Voting System Testing Laboratories: February 2021 • Preparation for the 2021 Goodyear Election: February 2021 • Data is archived per statutorily requirements • EMS equipment is used for multiple elections • 26 Daily Archives of EMS database and results with final archive created November 13, 2020 26 daily EMS server archives for the 2020 General Election Item #4, Page 21 Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote County provided Arizona Senate a digital copy of all ballot images on April 22, 2021 Inaccurate Claim: Corrupt Ballot Images No 2020 General Election ballot images were removed Inaccurate Claim: Missing Ballot Images Item #4, Page 21 The County was able to open the ballot images without issue on the drive provided to Arizona Senate. ELECTION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Ballot Images Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 8 of 30 noted there were three independent forensic auditing companies that independently verified the air gapped network. Recorder Richer asked Mr. Young to clarify that the EMS is a server by itself in a glass box that can be viewed from all directions, which he did. Mr. Richer noted only a handful of people had access to this server and he was not one of them. Mr. Young continued and explained other ways to confirm this network was air gapped as seen on the slide below. Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote Air Gapped Network o EMS air gapped network: No external connections Confirmed by Experts o Three independent vendors confirmed air gapped network status o ProV&V o SLI Compliance o PacketWatch No Connections and Visible Wiring o No WIFI connections or devices o Visible Network Cabling Item #6, Page 36 NO INTERNET CONNECTIONS EMS Air Gapped Network Network diagram of the County’s Election Management System air gapped network design with no connections to the internet. Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote NO INTERNET CONNECTIONS EMS Air Gapped Network No Internet Connectivity is Evidenced by the Following: o No Antivirus or Java Updates o Failed Microsoft attempts to reach “home” o Failed resolution of Domain Name Service (DNS) requests o Entries in Network Connectivity Status Indicator(NCSI) log indicate no internet connectivity o PacketWatchand SLI Compliance confirmed lack of evidence any connection attempt was successful Item #6, Page 36 Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 9 of 30 Mr. Young reviewed and explained the slide below which is an excerpt from the CyFir presentation with no evidence of successful connections. Mr. Young reviewed the slide below concerning no evidence of Internet connection from EMS workstations. Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote Services and apps trying to “Phone Home” All known EAC certified applications Item #6, Page 36 NO INTERNET CONNECTIONS EMS Server Screenshot from Cy FIR’sSeptember 24, 2021presentation to the Arizona Senate Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote NO INTERNET CONNECTIONS EMS Workstations No Internet Connectivity is Evidenced by the Following: Item #6, Page 36 Technician mistyped printer IP Address • http://www.bing.com/search?q=192.138.100.11... Default Homepage • https://go.Microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=838604 Default Redirect Page for Microsoft Edge • https://go.Microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=838604 Microsoft Bing is the default search engine on Microsoft Windows 10 Go.Microsoft.com is the default homepage for Microsoft Windows 10 No evidence of response from the Microsoft home page, Bing or redirect Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 10 of 30 Mr. Young explained the alleged Internet connection illustrated below was the IP address of a printer. Mr. Young briefly reviewed the slide below explaining the REWEB and REGIS servers and why they are on the website. He said it was unfortunate that CyFir used these servers in its report to appear they were a part of EMS and connected to the Internet. Mr. Young explained the County follows the Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) for tabulation equipment guidelines. Recorder Richer clarified that if the County had disregarded the EAC guidelines then it would have had disregarded election law and procedure. Mr. Young confirmed this to be correct as shown on the slides below. Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote NO INTERNET CONNECTIONS EMS Workstations IP Address Belongs to a Printer. It’s not connected to the internet CyFIR’s reference to a wireless card that had been disabled since it was installed in 2019, is not evidence of internet connectivity or a security issue. If the EAC tabulation certification documentation was referenced by CyFIR during this analysis, they would have been able to identify a distinct pattern like this. Item #6, Page 36 hƩp://192.168.100.11/m_network_wirelesslan.html Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote Item #6, Page 36 NO INTERNET CONNECTIONS Elections & Mapping Website o Recorder.Maricopa.gov website hosting servers o REWEB1601 o REWEB1602 o Geographic Information Services (GIS) Mapping Services servers o REGIS1201 o REGIS1202 o Clustered and load balanced servers The Elections’ & Recorder’s website is NOT connected to the air gapped EMS. Network diagram of the Recorder’s web servers, which shows a clear separation between the website and the tabulation equipment. Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 11 of 30 Mr. Young reviewed the slide below stating CyFir alleged the County shared passwords across multiple systems, which was incorrect as illustrated below. He went on to describe surveillance protocols and restricted accesses. Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote CYBERSECURITY BEST PRACTICES Basic Cybersecurity | Software and Patch Management EAC Standards o County follows all Elections Assistance Commission (eac.gov) guidelines for tabulation equipment o Server operating system and antivirus updates are not allowed on EAC certified systems o External log management systems (Splunk device) are not available for the current EAC certified system CISA Guidelines o Member of CISA’s Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC) o Recommendations CyFIR cited are intended to apply to enterprise networks where many users can access multiple systems, not as a best practice for closed, air gapped election management systems. Item #8, Page 74 Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote Item #8, Page 74 Only EAC certified patches and software were installed EAC certified “master images” do not contain all supporting patches or pre-requisite supporting files and software for Microsoft SQL, Visual Studio, etc. No patches, software or updates were applied after certification of the installed EMS on September 11, 2019 CYBERSECURITY BEST PRACTICES Basic Cybersecurity | Software and Patch Management EMS server patch analy sis. Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 12 of 30 Mr. Young reviewed the slide below and wanted to clarify one specific point, and that being the accusation that we flooded the logs to cause a deletion versus that we deleted the logs. There is a difference between the two and he explained the differences. Mr. Young reviewed the slides below and said this was an example of the quantified claim that Cyber Ninjas made. He said his personnel did not find 462 events in their analysis, they found 412 events. He discussed other discrepancies found during their analysis. Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote CYBERSECURITY BEST PRACTICES EMS Credential Management Item #6, Page 36 Physical security controls Restricted badge access Restricted building access Logs and sign in sheets Surveillance cameras Multi-factor authentication Observers present during tabulation Logic & Accuracy Tests The County ’s credential and multi -factor authentication design for the programs and equipment in the Ballot Tabulation Center, showing each device and its authentication steps. Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote CYBER SECURITY PRACTICES Network Activity and Internet Connections EMS Operating System Logs Preserved • Microsoft Server 2012r2 has a default 20-megabyte storage limit configuration • First-In First Out (FIFO) behavior • Hardening scripts create more detailed log events • Continuous Improvement: Request Increase in default log storage configurations User Logs • February 11 -The County took the standard data archival steps to ready the server for certified election experts to audit the equipment, and the County was preparing for the statutorily required March 2021 jurisdictional election. • March 3 - Staff was complying with the Senate's subpoena and gathering the ballot images from the archives and tabulation equipment. • April 12 - Staff was complying with the Senate’s subpoena and packing up the server for delivery EMS OPERATING SYSTEM LOGS User Logs & Storage Limits CyFIR’s claim that an individual ran scripts against a machine in order to “flood” the security logs is inaccurate. Item #5, Page 25 Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 13 of 30 Mr. Young stated the type of logins noted in the slide below are Credential Validation events. There was sufficient information provided on the referenced page to explain the issue in question if CyFir had been thorough. Mr. Young reviewed the slide below. Supervisor Hickman asked why a second hard drive would be in the machine. Mr. Young explained it was an oversight on the part of Dominion and would be considered an inert piece of equipment in this scenario. Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote CYBER SECURITY PRACTICES Network Activity and Internet Connections Date CyFIR Claim Analysis Maricopa County Review Notes 02/11/2021 462 Inaccurate 412 Logs Identified / SLI Compliance Review of EMS Server 03/03/2021 37,686 385 Logs Identified / Arizona Senate subpoena and creating EMS server clone. Unable to replicate claim numbers 04/12/2021 330 Readying server for delivery to Arizona Senate per subpoena Event Logs & Server Hardware Provided to the Senate 01/15/2021 04/21/2021 Security event log capacity: 35,000 – 38,000 events Logs available prior to the February 5, 2021 date CyFIR stated EMS OPERATING SYSTEM LOGS User Logs & Storage Limits Item #5, Page 25 Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote EMS OPERATING SYSTEM LOGS Anonymous Logins CyFIR’s “anonymous logins” claim is patently false. These logged actions are simply part of the EMS server protocols and standard Microsoft functions. Logon event 4624 type 3 indicates a remote login Network fields are not always available and may be left blank according to Microsoft Missing network information due to documented authentication protocols Always followed by a “4776” Credential Validation event Item #5, Page 25 Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 14 of 30 Recorder Richer asked Mr. Jarrett if there was a physical ballot for each vote in Maricopa County. Mr. Jarrett stated there is a physical ballot tabulated for every vote. There is no such thing as a digital ballot. The Board thanked Mr. Young for his presentation and Supervisor Hickman asked for Mr. Young’s background. Mr. Young stated he has been an IT professional for 16 years. He began as someone who was called for computer issues and eventually came to Maricopa County in 2018 to work with OET, then transferred to the Recorder’s Office. In response to the question, Mr. Young provided a listing of his credentials and certifications. Mr. Jarrett introduced Janine Petty, Senior Director of Voter Registration in the Recorder’s Office. She presented voter registration issues in the Cyber Ninja report. She stated there is no real-time database that tracks day-to-day changes of a voter in the state or in the nation. She provided background information on the federal and state laws that guide the Recorder’s Office. She said they ultimately rely on the affirmation of the voter about where they live. Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote CYBER SECURITY PRACTICES Network Activity and Internet Connections No Risk to Air Gapped Network • Drive not plugged into motherboard • Not powered on or used at any time by Maricopa County • Drive forensically cloned • Last accessed July 31, 2019 • Full EMS installation at Maricopa certified September 11, 2019 • Contained 2018 and 2019 mock electiondata from other states Impossible to be a “Dual Boot” system or a “Jump Box” Continuous Improvement • The County will remove external computer cases when accepting delivered equipment HARD DRIVES AND OTHER DATA Not Connected, Powered On or Used This drive did not play a role in any Maricopa County election as it was not plugged into the computer, and therefore not operational. Item #7, Page 45 Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote VOTER REGISTRATION Analysis of Cyber Ninja’s Reports Cyber Ninja claims related to voters that moved prior or during the election cycle and other voter registration issues: • Mail-in ballots voted from prior address • Voters moved out of county • Voted in multiple counties • Voters moved out of state • No record of a voter in a commercial database • Deceased voters A real-time database that tracks the day-by-day movements and residency changes of every person in the state or in the nation does not exist. No voter can be denied their right to vote because their information may not be correctly listed in a commercial database. Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 15 of 30 Ms. Petty reviewed the slide below noting the vast differences in data matching between the Cyber Ninjas and Maricopa County. Ms. Petty reviewed the Claims vs. Facts slides below concerning data matching. Recorder Richer noted the flaws in the databases used by the Cyber Ninjas. He emphasized that Arizona state laws prohibit Arizona voters from using post office boxes as a voter address when registering to vote. Recorder Richer emphasized the vast number of hours spent researching every voter file that the Cyber Ninjas alleged to have voted improperly. County staff discovered only six possible instances of double voting, and these were turned over to the Arizona Attorney General for investigation. Mr. Richer explained the bad methodology used by the Cyber Ninjas in reaching their conclusions. Chairman Gates asked for confirmation that the Cyber Ninjas allege there were over 30,000 who double voted and after extensive research, the Elections Department identified only 6 possible instances. Ms. Petty confirmed this information. Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote Cyber Ninjas Flawed Data Matching Analysis Only 3 data points to identify records • First Name • Last Name • Birth Year Item #9, Page 53 vs DATA MATCHING Cyber Ninjas Flawed Criteria Maricopa County’s Thorough Data Matching Analysis • Over 7 data points to identify records • Full name (First, Middle, Last) • Full Date of Birth • Last 4 of Social Security Number • AZ Driver’s License or ID number • Residential history • Voter Signature • Other supplied voter information • Occupation, Father’s last name, Mother’s maiden name Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote Inaccurate Cyber Ninjas Claims • Mail-in ballots voted from a prior address • Voters who moved within Maricopa County – 15,035 • Voters who moved out of Arizona – 6,591 • Voters who moved within Arizona but out of Maricopa County – 1,718 Maricopa County Findings Out of the 23,344 records, we found no occurrences of double voting. In addition,we found no evidence of a voter being ineligibleto vote from the residentialaddressesprovidedon their signedaffidavit of legal residenceas providedby state law. DATA MATCHING Claims vs Facts Item #9, Page 53 Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 16 of 30 Ms. Petty reviewed the slides below covering other voter registration claims made by the Cyber Ninjas. Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote Inaccurate Cyber Ninjas Claims • Voters that Potentially Voted in Multiple Counties - 5,295 • In-Person Voters Who Had Moved Out of Maricopa County - 2,382 • Voters Moved Out-of-State During 29-day Period Preceding Election - 2,081 Maricopa County Findings We determined that Cyber Ninjas incorrectly identified thousands of voters due to soft data matching practices. When using additionaldata points, we confirmedthat these voters weretwo separatepeople. However,we did find six potential instancesof doublevoting. The six cases have been turned over to theArizonaAttorneyGeneral’sOffice for further review. DATA MATCHING Claims vs Facts Item #9, Page 53 Item #9, Page 53 Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote Item #10, Page 60 OTHER VOTER REGISTRATION CLAIMS Claims vs Facts Voters are legally allowed to register with only a first name, last name, or single letter in their first or last name. A voter with a short name, no first name, or last name is not an indicator of an invalid voter. The law requires that voters who want to vote, but who are not identified in the SiteBook as properly registered, must be allowed to vote a provisional ballot. This includes those who registered to vote after the registration deadline. In accordance with federal and state law, these voters were issued a provisional ballot. None of the provisional ballots cast by those who registered after the deadline were counted. The Affidavit Sequence Number is not an indicator of whether a voter cast more than one ballot. While there are a small percentage of situations where a sequence number was assigned to two voters, this does not impact the integrity of the election process. Maricopa County Findings Inaccurate Cyber Ninjas Claims Voters with incomplete names - 393 Late Registered Voters with Counted Votes - 198 Multiple Voters linked by AFFSEQ- 101 Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 17 of 30 Ms. Petty reviewed the slide below stating Maricopa County found voter registration practices to be consistent with federal and state law. She reviewed improvement measures the Elections Department will take to improve this process, as outlined in the slide. Recorder Richer asked of the 53,304 alleged impacted ballots, what number the election team’s analysis found as actual questionable ballots? Ms. Petty responded there were 37 transferred to the Attorney General’s Office for further investigation. Recorder Richer asked for clarification, that of the 32 indicators, none were a result of any action taken by the Maricopa County Elections Department. Ms. Petty confirmed this information. Mr. Richer provided Ms. Petty’s credentials for the Board’s information. Mr. Jarrett introduced Celia Nabor, Assistant Director of Early Voting with the Elections Department. She stated she would be reviewing 19 claims made by EchoMail and by Cyber Ninjas regarding early voting. She said the claims are mostly focused on signature verification and the lack of understanding in election reports. Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote Item #10, Page 60 OTHER VOTER REGISTRATION CLAIMS Claims vs Facts Cyber Ninjas soft data matching techniques resulted in them incorrectly identifying potential voters who had two assigned voter registration numbers. Cyber Ninjas supporting appendix only had 164 individuals, not 186 listed. Out of the 164, we identified 12 total voters that had two voter IDs. Of the 12 voters, six potentially voted twice. The County forwarded this information to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office for further review. In a County with over 2.6 million voters, there are several thousand voters that pass away each month. Cyber Ninjas claim to have found 282 instances of deceased individuals voting but did not provide the County with a data set to research. The County Recorder’s independently directed analysis of voter records disproves the figures cited in Cyber Ninjas’ conclusion. Of the 619 voters, we found 26 possible instances of a ballot being processed and potentially counted for a voter that passed away prior to the ballot being returned. The County forwarded this information to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office for further review Maricopa County Findings Inaccurate Cyber Ninjas Claims Duplicate Voter IDs - 186 Deceased Voters - 298 Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote VOTER REGISTRATION Continuous Improvement Measures • The County Recorder’s Office is always looking for ways to improve the voter registration process while maintaining the integrity of the voter rolls. Requested to receive Monthly ERIC deceased reports to supplement the monthly deceased reports from AZ DHS and the daily research of county obituaries Reviewing system functionality for “soft-match” criteria to cast a wider net of potential duplicate registrations. Future re-write of the legacy voter registration system to facilitate a more streamlined workflow building on new laws and procedural efficiencies The analysis conducted related to Cyber Ninjas’ claims found voter registration practices to be consistent with federal/state law. Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 18 of 30 Ms. Nabor referred to two milestones that occurred in the summer of 2020. The Secretary of State hosted statewide virtual training on signature verification, provided by Forensic Handwriting Experts. She then explained the signature verification guide and its methodology illustrated in the slide below. She said the Elections Department have very robust curing processes for verifying signatures. Ms. Nabor noted the slide below was for a point of reference. She went on to explain the sections on the green envelope and how the bar code assists in tracking where the ballot is in the process. She explained how the envelopes are delivered to MCTEC and the series of custody documents that are completed. Ms. Nabor continued to explain how the packets are scanned making sure the signature is scanned. Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote EARLY VOTING 19 inaccurate, misleading and false claims by EchoMail and Cyber Ninjas Early Ballot Envelope Images Early Ballot Returns Real-Time Check-In Systems Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) (military and overseas) ballots Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote CYBER SECURITY PRACTICES Network Activity and Internet Connections Letterform • Ascenders, Descenders, Dots & Counters Broad Characteristics • Type & speed of writing • Overall spacing, size and proportion • Position of Signature • Spelling Local Characteristics • Internal Spacing • Size and Proportion of letters/combo of letters • Curves, loops, and cross points • Presence or absence of pen lifts • Beginning and Ending Stroke SIGNATURE VERIFICATION Training & System Maricopa County has a robust multiple tiered system to review 100% of the signatures on early voting packets. Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 19 of 30 Ms. Nabor said EchoMail was very clear that the scope was limited to only look at the signature portion of the envelope. She explained what occurred when a signature was deemed good or was an exception. Ms. Nabor reviewed the slide below that explained what was involved in the curing process. Curing is when a signature cannot be verified and must be “cured” to be counted. She said it was important to note that an envelope without a cured signature is never opened. Recorder Richer gave a review of each point of the signature verification with confirmation given by Ms. Nabor. Tom Liddy, Practice Group Leader, County Attorney’s Office, came forward and clarified the envelope is scanned, not the ballot because the ballot is still in the envelope. Ms. Nabor reviewed the slide below refuting the claims made by EchoMail. She noted that an envelope that is scanned and then in need of “curing” will have two images (pre and post curing) however, only the “cured” signature will be counted as valid. She noted there was a Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote Historical affidavit with an approved signature Mary Test Voter Jr Image of the Green Affidavit Envelope Signature verification system Mary Test Voter Jr 111-111-1111 111-111-1111 SIGNATURE VERIFICATION Training & System Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote CYBER SECURITY PRACTICES Network Activity and Internet Connections SIGNATURE VERIFICATION Curing The County has a standardized process for contacting voters to notify them of questionable signatures and unsigned affidavit envelopes. Questionable Signature • Deadline is 5 business days post election (5:00PM) • Voter must provide information to verify their identity and confirm they signed the affidavit envelope • Cured signatures are stamped with “Verified and Approved MCTEC” stamp • Uncured packets will be reported on the canvass as a bad signature (reject) No Signature • Deadline is Election night at 7:00PM • Voter must provide signature on the affidavit envelope or vote in person • Uncured packets will be reported on the canvass as a no signature (reject) Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 20 of 30 change in Arizona law in 2019 that allowed more voters to cure their ballots up to five business days post-election. Ms. Nabor said it was reported that the Elections Department did not count scribbles and she explained that sometimes scribbles is a case of defective writing instruments, and a voter cannot be disenfranchised because of their choice of writing utensil. She also gave reasons why a signature will change over time, and these cannot be disenfranchised. Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote 6,545 unique EVB return envelopes were processed by Maricopa than identified by EchoMail. (EchoMail report pg.14) 17,126 Sent in TWO or More Ballots (“Duplicates”) while no duplicates were reported on the canvass (EchoMail report pg.14) FALSE & MISLEADING MISLEADING Item #13, Page 75 EARLY BALLOT ENVELOPE IMAGES EchoMail Claims Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote The EchoMail graph (Figure 55) reveals a significant surge of 7,797 duplicates during the six days from 11/04/2020 to 11/09/2020. (EchoMail report pg.74-75) As EVBs Increased by 53% from 2016 to 2020 in Maricopa, “Bad Signatures” Decreased by 56% (EchoMail report pg.15) INACCURATE MISLEADING Item #13, Page 75 EARLY BALLOT ENVELOPE IMAGES EchoMail Claims Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 21 of 30 Ms. Nabor reviewed the slides below and explained the examples illustrated on each of the slides. Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote Maricopa County Findings: A “scribble” does not constitute a bad signature There are common reasons signatures could be inconsistent (i.e., medical conditions) over time Inaccurate Claim: 2,580 “Bad Signatures” e.g., Scribbles Out of 1,911,918 (0.135%). EARLY BALLOT ENVELOPE IMAGES EchoMail Claims Item #13, Page 75 Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote Inaccurate Claim: 464 more “No Signature” EVB Return Envelopes Identified by EchoMail. Item #13, Page 75 Maricopa County Findings • Voters can cure their unsigned affidavit until Election Day at 7PM. • Cured packets are NOT duplicate ballots • Staff physically examine the sealed affidavit envelope to look for a viable signature on the packet. ORIGINAL CURED EARLY BALLOT ENVELOPE IMAGES EchoMail Claims CURED ORIGINAL Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 22 of 30 Ms. Nabor stated the slide below is an example of a soft match. They claimed this is the same name, but two different voter IDs. The claim was it has the same address, same phone number, and the signature was the same, but she pointed out the difference in the signatures. Ms. Nabor reviewed the slide below and stated EchoMail declared this example to be potentially a critical anomaly. They used words like photoshop, or an image was stamped onto the affidavit. These were false claims. Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote Misleading Claim: Two Different Voter-Ids with Same Name, Address, Phone Number with MATCHING Signatures Item #13, Page 75 Maricopa County Finding • Maricopa County has instances of voters with the same name living in the same household (i.e., Sr. and Jr.) EARLY BALLOT ENVELOPE IMAGES EchoMail Claims Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 23 of 30 Ms. Nabor stated the slides below deal with claims made specifically by Cyber Ninjas. Most of these claims are due to a misunderstanding of our election reports, and another claim on our use of SiteBooks. She began her review with the SiteBooks from the first slide below. The grid below shows the reports that were misunderstood and used to come to false conclusions, by the Cyber Ninjas. Ms. Nabor briefly explained the use for each of the reports. Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote Item #12, Page 67 EARLY BALLOT RETURNS “Real -Time” SiteBook Check -In System County has implemented an award-winning, secure, real-time voter check-in station at voting locations that prevents double voting while also expanding voting access. Maricopa County Findings • Maricopa County’s voter check-in system, the SiteBook, has a real-time, secure connection to the voter registration system. • When a voter checks in at the polls, the SiteBookconducts a live check of the voter registration database • The County has been using this real-time provisional ballot approach since 2016 with the approval of the Arizona Secretary of State. Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 24 of 30 Ms. Nabor summarized the next few slides saying many conclusions were drawn by trying to combine these different reports. Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote ELECTION FILES EV 32 REQUESTS All early ballot requests received from voters prior to the 11th day before election day. Provided October 1-23, 2020 EV 33 RETURNS All early voting ballot returns (reflects curing efforts) This is not a list of counted ballots Provided October 12-November 2, 2020 VM 55 VOTED FILE Final accounting of voters that participated in an election Categorized as Early Voting or Election Day VM 34 MONTHLY VOTER ROLL FILE Distributed to political parties and jurisdictions conducting an election Contains voter information for active and inactive voters Item #12, Page 67 Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote 618 voters not part of the official precinct register (Cyber Ninjas Section 5.6.1) 9,041 more ballots returned by voters than received (Cyber Ninjas Section 5.4.1) INACCURATE INACCURATE Item #12, Page 67 EARLY BALLOT RETURNS Cyber Ninjas’ Claims Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 25 of 30 Supervisor Hickman asked Mr. Liddy to come forward to answer a question about a case that was brought before a judge concerning signature verification and it was thrown out. The leader of the Republican Party was stating in court that the signature verification was being done incorrectly. He wondered if the people in the courtroom might have called the Cyber Ninjas and stated this was vetted in front of people and shown to be inaccurate. Mr. Liddy said in the case Supervisor Hickman was speaking about, evidence was presented in the court that was very similar to the presentation being given today. All the experts on signature verification in the courtroom at the time agreed the process that was used was outstanding and Mr. Liddy explained why it was considered to be so outstanding. The result was the claim against Maricopa County being thrown out. Recorder Richer noted this was not the first time this signature verification process was investigated and found to be outstanding and named the case as being Ward v. Jackson. There were two forensic document examiners who declared there was no basis for rejecting the ballots in question. Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote 430 ballots not returned in the final voted file (Cyber Ninjas Section 5.6.3) 397 mail-in ballots received without record of being sent (Cyber Ninjas Section 5.6.4) INACCURATE INACCURATE INACCURATE 193 Date of registration changes to an earlier date (Cyber Ninjas Section 5.6.9) Item #12, Page 67 EARLY BALLOT RETURNS Cyber Ninjas’ Claims Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote False Claim: Early Votes Not Accounted For in EV33. Item #13, Page 75 Maricopa County Findings • State law is clear. These daily files are created for the “county or state chairman.” The start and end dates of each file are outlined in A.R.S. § 16- 168(D) . • For the 2020 General Election, the EV33 file was last created on the Monday before Election Day (November 2, 2020). • VM55 provides a full account of voter participation and ballot type (Early or Election Day). EARLY BALLOT RETURNS Cyber Ninjas’ Claims Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 26 of 30 Ms. Nabor continued to review the last slides to her presentation concerning UOCAVA ballots. Mr. Jarrett stated he covered the slide below in his initial comments and reiterated the misunderstanding by Cyber Ninjas of the elections reports as well as other possible reasons for the discrepancies. Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote Electronic: Mail: Voters returned a UOCAVA ballot 10,396 8,986 1,410 Cyber Ninjas used the incorrect data set from the ElecƟon AdministraƟon and VoƟng Survey (EAVS) Report, a state-by-state report that covers data on various topics related to the administraƟon of federal elecƟons published by the U.S. ElecƟons Assistance Commission. UOCAVA BALLOTS Item #16, Page 90 Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote False Claim: Inaccurate Identification of UOCAVA ballots on the manifests. UOCAVA BALLOTS Item #16, Page 90 Note: To comply with the Arizona Constitution’s guarantee of secrecy of the ballot, as well as A.R.S. § 16-1018(4), which prohibits showing voted ballots in a way that reveals the contents, we have blurred the images taken from Cyber Ninjas’ presentation. Maricopa County Finding • Military and Overseas voters may return their voted ballot and signed affidavit via electronic upload, fax, or mail. Inaccurate Claim: Six UOCAVA Electronic Ballots Double Counted. Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 27 of 30 Mr. Jarrett reviewed the slide below and explained possible circumstances that could happen to cause these ballots to be damaged or duplicated. He also explained the inaccurate claims made by the Cyber Ninjas. Mr. Jarrett reviewed the following slide concerning another inaccurate claim related to double scanned and corrected ballots. Maricopa County Elections Department | 602-506-1511 | Maricopa.Vote Ballots Included in Official Canvass 2,089,563 2,086,131 Voters who show as voting the Public VM55 Voting File Protected Voters Cyber Ninjas Included 2 Inaccurate Claims As a precaution, the County does not create files that list the amount of protected voters 3,432 Difference ~3,400 Item #11, Page 65 Protected Voters, Empty Affidavits, Fled Voters: Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 28 of 30 Mr. Jarrett reviewed the slide below and explained their policy of continuous improvement. Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 29 of 30 Supervisor Hickman asked if the mistake identified with the 50 ballots was made by a regular full-time employee and Mr. Jarrett said it was made by a temporary employee hired for the election. Supervisor Hickman asked if there were going to be new protocols to prevent this from happening again. Mr. Jarrett responded that they added additional logging requirements on the log. Also, at the end of a shift additional reviews were added. Supervisor Hickman stated that no election is perfect, but this report confirmed the 2020 election was about as close as you can get. He said a record number of people participated and their votes counted. Both Republicans and Democrats won local and state races. He said if one of your candidates lost, that was not proof of fraud, it was proof that democracy works. Recorder Richer said he appreciated his colleagues, fellow electeds, and the people he worked with. He recommended everyone read the report discussed today. He noted that today was his one-year, one-day anniversary with Maricopa County. He stated he did not have a swearing-in ceremony; he did not talk to the media for the first five months. He got to work. He said throughout 2021, the Elections Department and the Recorder’s Office worked hard to execute their statutory responsibilities. He shared the accomplishments of the Recorder’s Office since he took office. He then emphasized the thousands and thousands of hours spent reviewing the 2020 election and responding to allegations concerning that election. He stated with confidence the Maricopa County 2020 election was conducted accurately. He noted there are still some members of the political parties that have doubts about the election. He said he hoped this report would answer doubts of anyone who wanted to know the truth. He said he worked with a team of Arizonans who are good people, hard- working people, and humble people. He stated he was grateful for everyone in the Recorder’s Office. Supervisor Galvin thanked Recorder Richer and those who participated in the presentation today. He said he hoped people learned from the presentation. He stated the report, Correcting the Record, was about the Maricopa County Elections Department. Supervisor Galvin wanted the people of Maricopa County to know their elections are reliable, secure, transparent, and accurate. He thanked Mr. Jarrett, Ms. Nabor, Mr. Young, and Ms. Petty for the presentation. Supervisor Sellers noted the County has a wonderful group in the Elections Department. The County has won national awards for the work that has been done. He said he was sorry the department had to endure the attacks on their capabilities in the 2020 election. Supervisor Special Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 05, 2022 Page 30 of 30 Sellers said he toured the County’s elections operations twice, one with legislative representatives during an actual election in process. The majority opinion for all who have witnessed the elections operation is quality, fairness, and integrity of the election process. Chairman Gates noted the Elections Department and staff are professional, credible, and he was proud to be affiliated with each of them. He said they debunked over and over the statements made in the Cyber Ninjas’ report. Chairman Gates stated it was important that our legislators did not create new election laws based on the Cyber Ninjas report. He said the Elections Department will be vindicated through history. He stated Maricopa County is “done” with the 2020 election. MEETING ADJOURNED There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned. _____________________________ Bill Gates, Chairman of the Board ATTEST: _________________________________ Juanita Garza, Clerk of the Board