Senator Karen Fann November 10, 2020

1700 W. Washington
Phoenix, AZ 85007

VIA EMAIL ONLY

Senator Fann,

I have received your letter dated November 9, 2020. To the extent your letter seeks public
records subject to release under Arizona law, my Office will work to fulfill your request.
While your letter to my Office appears to ask only for release of public documents relating to
the logic and accuracy tests, members of the media brought to our attention your
accompanying press release, which you did not send to my Office, in which you purport to
have demanded retention of an “independent expert to evaluate all data related to the
tabulation of votes in the 2020 General Election.” I won’t speculate as to why you stated one
thing in the formal letter and something entirely different in a press release, but the broader
request in your press release is unfounded. It is patently unreasonable to suggest that,
despite there being zero credible evidence of any impropriety or widespread irregularities,
election officials nonetheless have a responsibility to prove a negative. I respectfully decline
your request to push aside the work that remains to be done to ensure an orderly completion
of this election and instead launch and fund with taxpayer dollars a boundless “independent”
evaluation of “all data related to the tabulation of votes in the 2020 General Election.”

The Arizona Revised Statues and the Elections Procedures Manual put in place ample
safeguards and procedures before, during, and after the election that protect the integrity of
our elections. My Office along with the representatives from the Governor’s Office and the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security provided a detailed presentation of these measures
to members of the Legislature in March and July of this year. A summary of these measures
may be found on my Office’s Arizona.Vote website.1 With these safeguards, the public can be
confident in the “fairness in the election process in Arizona.”
For example, all voting and tabulation equipment used in Arizona must be certified by both
the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and the Secretary of State’s Office, after review by
the State’s Equipment Certification Advisory Committee, to ensure that the equipment meets
both federal and state-specific requirements.2 And before voting begins, county election
officials conduct logic and accuracy testing on each piece of voting equipment to make sure

1 https://arizona.vote/files/How_we_secure_Arizona's_elections_2020.pdf.
2 A.R.S. § 16-442; Elections Procedures Manual ch. 4, § I.
that ballots will be marked and counted correctly.3 The Secretary of State’s Office also
performs a logic and accuracy test of a sample of voting and tabulation equipment at each
county before each statewide election, an independent check on election equipment.4
Additionally, in the most recent version of the Election Procedures Manual, my Office
included a requirement that counties also perform post-election logic and accuracy testing.5

State law also provides for a post-election, hand-count audit with the participation of the
recognized political parties.6 The results of these audits are publicly posted on my website.7
And all ballots cast in Arizona have a voter-verifiable paper audit trail. Arizona is certainly
a leader in protecting the integrity of our elections.

To be clear, there is no “current controversy” regarding elections in Arizona, outside of

theories floated by those seeking to undermine our democratic process for political gain.
Elected officials should work to build, rather than damage, public confidence in our system.
As we’ve seen in recent days, even efforts ostensibly aimed at knocking down misinformation
can actually amplify it.

The administration of the 2020 election has been, by all measures, a rousing success in
Arizona—despite the unprecedented challenges that confronted our state and county election
officials. I look forward to continued work with you and the state legislature to expand access
to the ballot while protecting the integrity of our elections.

Sincerely,

Katie Hobbs
Arizona Secretary of State

3 A.R.S. § 16-449; Elections Procedures Manual ch. 4, § II(F).

4 A.R.S. § 16-449; Elections Procedures Manual ch. 4, § II(D).
5 Elections Procedures Manual ch. 12, § II.
6 A.R.S. § 16-602(B)—(F); Elections Procedures Manual ch. 11.
7 A.R.S. § 16-602(I); Elections Procedures Manual ch. 11, § XI; see also Arizona Secretary of State,

2020 Hand Count Results, https://azsos.gov/2020-hand-count-results.