No Maricopa County election machines used to tally 2020 votes were connected to the internet, according to a new examination.
The finding further undercuts claims by some Donald Trump supporters that the machines were somehow hacked, affecting results.
But the report, issued Wednesday by former U.S. Rep. John Shadegg, is unlikely to end persistent, unverified claims Joe Biden didn't actually defeat Trump in Arizona.
Shadegg, a Phoenix Republican, was hired by the state Senate and Maricopa County to examine the machines. He said the three experts he hired for the study "
found no evidence that the routers, managed switches, or election devices connected to the public internet.'' He also said there are
no routers, managed switches or "Splunk logs'' in the ballot tabulation center.
He said the experts found that the county's Office of Enterprise Technology, which provides the computer structure for all county departments, does have routers and switches that connect to the public internet.
"However,
the only election related information on the OET is registration information and records,'' the report says, adding that
it plays no role in the ballot tabulation process. Shadegg also said
the office's equipment is never connected, whether by wire or wirelessly, to the ballot tabulation center or any equipment there, which he said is "air-gapped'' from all outside equipment or systems.