IN FOCUS - Mar. 13, 2026

The latest signal that federal investigators are examining results of the 2020 election came this week as the Arizona State Senate complied with a grand jury subpoena for results of a Senate-led audit of the presidential contest. Information handed over is believed to include digital scans of ballots cast by Maricopa County voters in that election.

In January, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes due to his office’s refusal to produce the state’s full, unredacted voter registration list. Secretary Fontes and Attorney General Kris Mayes are fighting the federal request in court. This week, the two Democrats sent a memo to elections officials in all 15 counties asserting that the Trump administration may attempt to use grand jury subpoenas to obtain voter information to which it is not entitled, circumventing the court case.

We “implore you to fulfill your oath by declining any such illegal demands,” the joint Fontes/Mayes letter states. 

It remains unclear what new information the DOJ could glean from the infamous Cyber Ninjas audit of 2021, which was replete with missteps and ultimately affirmed Joe Biden’s victory in Arizona. Former Secretary of State Ken Bennett, a Republican who served as a liaison for the Senate audit, told ProPublica this week he has faith in Maricopa County’s tally of the 2020 election: “The only evidence I could find of mistakes made by the county were minor efforts that had nothing to do with whether or not they came up with the accurate results.”