False claim election officials in Arizona county admitted to breaking law | Fact check

The claim: Maricopa County, Arizona, officials admitted to breaking the law, improperly certifying machines that failed during election

A Nov. 18 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) by right-wing account The Raging Patriot shows a photo of a person feeding a paper ballot into a vote tabulator.

“BREAKING Maricopa County Elections has admitted they broke the law and improperly certified the machines that failed on Election Day,” reads the text in the photo.

It was liked more than 20,000 times in 11 days.

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Our rating: False

A spokesperson for the Maricopa County elections department called the claim “completely false” and said the county is not even responsible for certifying election machines. There are no credible reports that election officials said they broke any laws.

‘The county did not break the law’

The post does not specify the type of machine purported to have failed or the year of the election in question. It is an apparent reference to the problems with ballot printers that caused issues with vote tabulators during the 2022 midterms, as detailed in a previous USA TODAY fact check. An investigation by a retired state Supreme Court justice found those problems were caused by a switch to larger ballots printed on heavier, thicker paper.

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But the claim that officials said they broke the law is “completely false,” Jennifer Liewer, Maricopa County’s deputy elections director for communications, told USA TODAY.

“The county did not break the law, and we didn’t 'admit to it’ as the post says,” Liewer said in an email.

Arizona has been the focus of a series of false claims about election fraud since 2020, when President Joe Biden won the battleground state by about 10,000 votes. Any public admission of lawbreaking would have been reported upon by legitimate media outlets, but there are no credible reports that officials have said they violated any laws.

Additionally, Maricopa County officials could not have improperly certified any election equipment because “the county does not certify machines,” Liewer said.

Instead, the secretary of state and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission certify the election equipment used in Arizona, Sophia Solis, a spokesperson for the Arizona secretary of state, previously told USA TODAY.

Under state law, election equipment earning certification must meet standards set by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and undergo testing at accredited laboratories.

The county is responsible for conducting a different type of test to ensure the machines accurately record and count votes, a process called logic and accuracy testing, Liewer said.

“But that is not considered 'certification,’” Liewer said.

The assertion echoes a claim previously debunked by USA TODAY that the state’s voting machines were not certified before those midterms, and consequently, those results could not be legally certified.

USA TODAY has fact-checked claims made by The Raging Patriot in the past, including false assertions that a herpes infection could be a side effect of COVID-19 vaccination and that former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard triggered an Internal Revenue Service audit of ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi by sending her a Venmo payment of $600.01.

USA TODAY reached out to The Raging Patriot but did not immediately receive a response.

Our fact-check sources:

• Jennifer Liewer, Nov. 21-28, Email exchange with USA TODAY

• Arizona State Legislature, accessed Nov. 28, 16-442, Committee approval; adoption of vote tabulating equipment; experimental use; emergency

• U.S. Election Assistance Commission, Oct. 10, System Certification

• U.S. Election Assistance Commission, June 7, Help America Vote Act

• Maricopa County, accessed Nov. 23, Maricopa County Election Facts | Voting Equipment & Accuracy

• Maricopa County, April 10, Maricopa County 2022 General Election Ballot-on-Demand Printer Investigation

• Maricopa County, April 10, Printer Investigation Complete

• USA TODAY, Dec. 14, 2022, Fact check: Arizona's voting equipment was certified ahead of the 2022 midterms

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Maricopa County officials did not say they broke law | Fact check