Maricopa County election employees are at the center of another election-security controversy after video presented by the Phoenix-based We the People Alliance appeared to show flash drives being used on certified voting equipment shortly before the November 3 election.
According to the watchdog group, employees left for the day at approximately 6:20 p.m., returned around 9:08 p.m., and remained inside the facility until about 11:15 p.m. Additional footage reportedly shows an employee using flash drives on computers at 10:38 p.m. on October 7. Maricopa County performed logic and accuracy testing for the November 3 election on October 5, meaning the activity occurred shortly after that testing.
The county said the employees were “working on a legitimate election task, late into the night.” That explanation might sound comforting if the public were told what the task actually was. Calling something legitimate without explaining it is a little like putting a label on a locked box that says “nothing to see here” and expecting nobody to ask questions.
We the People Alliance co-founder Shelby Busch challenged the county’s transparency claims, stating, “There are two flaws with the Maricopa County Election Department’s statement of transparency. First, they fail to disclose to the public what this ‘legitimate election task’ was that required occurring late into the night, and second, they indicate this can be viewed 24/7 by the public; however, the feed published by WTP USA does not appear to be part of the public feeds.”
We the People says it obtained the video from a source, and that the view shown is not available on Maricopa County’s public livestream of activity at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center. The county stated, “You can view our tabulation center 24/7 365 days a year.”
Busch also said, “We do not presume to know what was on those flash drives, but what we do know is that secure computers were unlocked and external devices were inserted into highly sensitive systems late at night and without any public oversight. Additional video footage we obtained also raises heavy concern over the chain of custody of the external flash drive,”
We the People identified one of the employees as Brian Ramirez, who was previously accused of deleting election files before voting machines were delivered to Arizona Senate auditors following the 2020 election. The Gateway Pundit has not independently verified that Ramirez was involved in this latest incident.
The report also revisits concerns from the 2022 election. During Kari Lake’s court proceedings, Maricopa County reportedly acknowledged installing new memory cards on Election Day tabulators on October 14, 17, and 18, after the statutorily required October 11 logic and accuracy testing. The Gateway Pundit connected those actions to tabulator failures on Election Day and alleged that thousands of voters were disenfranchised and that Lake was denied victory over Katie Hobbs.
We the People says the employees involved are hired and supervised by Scott Jarrett and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, not the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office. The group also said relevant details were reported to authorities.
Election equipment is not supposed to become a late-night USB playground. Public confidence depends on clear explanations, visible chain-of-custody procedures, and equal access to surveillance footage. Until the county identifies the task and explains why external devices were used on sensitive systems after testing, questions about oversight are unlikely to disappear.
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