State auditors plan to examine Ford County’s election security procedures in the 2022 general election after county officials didn’t make documents available for a previous audit.
Lawmakers hope a subpoena produces different results.
The Legislative Post Audit Committee held a brief virtual meeting Monday to approve a follow-up audit stemming from a 2023 audit involving 13 counties.
Audit staff asked the counties not to discard or seal election-related documentation, but Ford County — along with Chase County — sealed the documents in the same containers as completed ballots.
The follow-up audit is intended to answer two questions about the 2022 general election:
- Does Ford County’s election office have adequate policies and procedures to ensure the accuracy and security of voting machines used?
- Does Ford County’s election office have adequate policies and procedures to ensure the security of storage units, ballots and devices used to tabulate votes?
The committee approved issuing a subpoena for Ford County Clerk Debbie Cox or her representative to produce documents, electronically stored information and objects related to the audit.
The approved subpoena called for Ford County to deliver the documents for its Aug. 14 meeting either in person or sent to Legislative Post Auditor Chris Clarke.
Committee members also agreed the audit would begin immediately and failure by anyone to make any documents or files available would be reported to the committee, Gov. Laura Kelly and Attorney General Kris Kobach.
Staffers estimated one auditor would take one-and-a-half months to complete the audit.
Bryan Richardson is the managing editor at State Affairs Pro Kansas/Hawver’s Capitol Report. Reach him at [email protected] or on X @RichInNews.