Maricopa County Recorder debunks claim that Arizona 2020 election data will be destroyed

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) — An email is making the rounds, urging recipients to request Arizona election data from the Nov. 2020 election before it’s destroyed on Sept. 1.

The only problem, according to Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, is that it’s not true. Richer, who leads the county’s election operations, says the email originated at a recent event hosted by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and has been making its way around Republican legislative districts. The message starts with urgency, stating “We need to bombard the AZ Recorder’s Office” with requests for 2020 election info, specifically a “per ballot” report that’s also known as a “Cast Vote Record,” or CVR.

Since the email started to spread, Richer says his office has received 173 records requests for the Nov. 2020 cast vote record over the past week. For reference, he says they don’t typically receive that many requests for CVRs over the course of an entire year.

Either way, he says the data is not being destroyed. In a series of tweets from his personal account Monday morning, Richer says Arizona Revised Statute 16-624 requires that his office keep data from that election for 24 months. He says the data won’t be deleted even when it hits the 24-month mark this November.

Richer says he’s not sure of the origin of the Sept. 1 date mentioned in the email.

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