PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona authorities said Tuesday they are investigating whether a 27-year-old temporary election worker in the state’s largest county had political motives when he stole a FOB that gave him access to vote tabulations just before the July 30 primary. .
“This is not your average robbery,” Maricopa County Sheriff Russ Skinner said at a news conference in Phoenix, adding that he had no information yet on the suspect’s beliefs.
Skinner said authorities were reviewing Walter Ringfield’s social media feeds and phone to determine if he was working with anyone when he took the small black fob that provides access to the tabulators used in the county, which has occurred since President has been the subject of election conspiracy theories. Joe Biden narrowly defeated the former president Donald Trump in the state four years ago.
Trump falsely claimed there was widespread fraud in Maricopa, leading Republican lawmakers to launch an error-ridden review of ballot counts and issue a long series of threats against local Republican officials who stood behind their staff numbers . As the county geared up for the primary election — in which the Republican county recorder and a Republican county supervisor are being challenged by election conspiracy theorists — it hired more than 2,000 temporary workers to help with the election.
Ringfield was one of them. According to a statement from the sheriff’s office, surveillance footage Thursday showed Ringfield grabbing one of the key fobs from a desk shortly after 5 p.m. The next day, he was arrested at his home in Phoenix after election workers realized one of the key fobs was missing. authorities said.
Ringfield told police he took the key fob because he was trying to help clean up. He also said he had hoped to get a permanent job at the elections office, the office’s statement said. The public defender’s office said an attorney had not yet been appointed to represent Ringfield.
Skinner and Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates said election officials reprogrammed the tabulators to make sure they were inaccessible to the remote control and then retested the counting equipment to make sure it worked, with observers from both major parties. Gates, a Republican, emphasized that the incident demonstrates the safety of the county’s operations.
“The suspect was arrested the day we determined he was missing,” Gates said. “This incident has shown all the protocols that are in place. We have cameras. We have observers.”
Referring to the years of election unrest in the province, Gates added: “I certainly hope that people don’t use this incident to create more conspiracy theories.”
The Republican National Committee said in a statement that it deployed personnel to Maricopa in response to the incident. The party’s election integrity operation is led by Christina Bobb, an attorney and former reporter for a conservative news network who promoted the county’s conspiratorial review of the 2020 election.
“This incident raises serious questions about election security in Arizona that need to be answered – we will work constructively with Maricopa County officials to ensure that remedies for this security breach adequately address our concerns,” said RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement.
