PHOENIX — Maricopa County Officials said they were able to find out that a digital key was missing based on their routine inventory checks.
County officials gathered on Tuesday at the Maricopa Sheriff's Department to share information on a security key allegedly taken from the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center last week.
Officials said 27-year-old Walter Ringfield Jr., a temporary employee at the center who is being charged with theft and criminal damage, is currently behind bars.
Ringfield is also charged in a case where he was seen on surveillance video stealing from a staff member's desk at the Arizona State Capitol.
Agencies continue to investigate the details to see if the incident was politically motivated or if other people were involved.
"We don't have any indication at this point but we are not ruling it out and we are going to leave no stone unturned," Robert Skinner, Maricopa County Sheriff, said. "We are going to make sure we do evaluate all evidence out there and ensure that we follow up on anything that is directing us anywhere else."
Bill Gates, county supervisor for District 3, emphasized that the county took immediate action after they found out the tabulation key was missing last Thursday.
"What we do at the beginning of each day, we do an inventory check and make sure that we have all of these black security keys," Gates said. "We did that on Friday, [and] we found out one was missing."
Gates said security and live stream cameras were evaluated to determine Ringfield had taken the key and removed it from the ballot tabulation center.
"I do not expect this to have any impact whatsoever on the upcoming election," Gates said. "We reprogramed all of the tabulators used on Election Day and then we did [a] logic and tabulator test"
Jennifer Liewer, spokesperson for Maricopa County Elections, explained that the security key's function is only to turn the tabulator machine on.
"Itself, it does not allow votes to be changed," Liewer said. "There are multiple layers of security that occur and so that is all the key does."
Court records show that Ringfield had previously been arrested and charged for stealing more than $1,800 from a previous employer and later entered a felony diversion program.
12News asked the county if they would have hired Ringflied knowing he was in a felony diversion program.
"When we did that criminal background check, we did not find that he was on diversion," Gates said. "It takes 2 to 3 thousand temporary employees to run an election in Maricopa County so security is very important and we look at each one of those cases to ensure the election security."
Gates said the incident cost the county more than $20,000.
"As far as the cost is concerned, all of my colleagues on the board of supervisors agree with me, you can't put a price on democracy and election security," Gates said. "This team is committed to it, the Sheriff is committed, the recorder is committed to it. We are going to do what we need to do to make sure the people know that our elections are safe and secure."
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