The Pinal County supervisor representing Maricopa could face consequences for his nearly year-long “stop the steal” campaign.

Pinal County confirmed it anticipates receiving the results next month from a cybersecurity probe into Kevin Cavanaugh’s claims of a rigged primary election — one he lost in a relative landslide — and it may consider taking legal action.

According to a Friday statement from county spokesperson James Daniels to InMaricopa, experts accredited and certified by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission performed an onsite “election and cybersecurity technical assessment” of tabulators Sept. 11.

It confirmed ballots were not touched during the assessment.

The county anticipates results from the analysis during an upcoming Board of Supervisors meeting early next month. The Oct. 2 agenda does not mention a public discussion of the results; two additional executive sessions will be held to discuss possible litigation related to the allegations.

Cavanaugh, however, believes officials were looking in the wrong place and responded by filing a notice of claim for $65,000 against Pinal County Friday for “maladministration of the election.”

“Nothing happened inside the tabulators, it happened in the USB sticks,” he told InMaricopa today. “You can change the results right on the USB stick, if you have the USB stick prior to it going into the computer.”

For him, it all comes down to the county’s attempt to intentionally “conceal another election failure.”

‘A clown show’

The discord over Cavanaugh’s claims of widespread election fraud has been mounting for months now.

Cavanaugh spent significant time this year stirring doubts over the county’s election integrity, especially after his loss in the Republican primary for Pinal County sheriff to Ross Teeple. Some of his previous claims included accusing County Recorder Dana Lewis of publishing defamatory statements against him and fretting over the location of tabulating machines and redacted sections of elections manuals.

That came to a head during an Aug. 12 special meeting to canvass votes. Cavanaugh claimed he found anomalies in several county Republican races, including his own bid for sheriff, dubbing the election results “impossible.”

His persistence drew frustration from his fellow supervisors, with Chairman Mike Goodman stating the meeting was “not a place … for a particular candidate to make a statement.”

District 3 Supervisor Stephen Miller called the stunt “a clown show.”

A little over a week later, District 4 Supervisor and Vice Chair Jeff McClure challenged Cavanaugh’s claims.

“I suggest the board direct staff to work with [the] elections department and with outside counsel to review the methodology and analytics the supervisor used to reach his conclusions and also to have a forensic audit done of the technology utilized in the primary to determine if there’s any validity to what the supervisor’s alleging,” McClure said during the Aug. 21 meeting.

That led to the cybersecurity investigation two weeks ago.

What’s next

The board of supervisors, on which Cavanaugh has no allies, broached his allegations in executive sessions earlier this week and will again next week.

A Sept. 24 meeting agenda showed supervisors seeking “legal advice and contemplated litigation regarding Kevin Cavanaugh’s allegations surrounding the 2024 primary election and the continued alleged actions of the election department staff.”

The same topic will be discussed in an executive session of the upcoming October meeting.

Cavanaugh did not attend the executive session and told InMaricopa if the meeting revolves around his legal claim, he will not attend the October session either.

For his part, Cavanaugh insists his motives are centered on government transparency he finds lacking in the county government.

“We talk about transparency but everything about this election, including the concealment of everything inside the internal elections procedure manual, belies that statement of transparency,” he said.

And it seems if that claim fails or his new bid as a write-in candidate for county recorder, Cavanaugh plans to leave government and “go back into private business.”

Either way, it’s clear the other supervisors are fed up with his antics.

In a statement provided to InMaricopa, McClure said he has “absolute confidence” in Lewis and the county’s elections department, adding the “public should rest assured” that Pinal County’s “election systems were not and cannot be compromised.”

“It is vital that we unequivocally prove the integrity of the Pinal County elections process so our voters can go to the polls in November and be assured that the outcomes will be fair and accurate,” McClure said.

The Arizona Republic’s Laurie Roberts wrote Friday afternoon of Cavanaugh: “Pinal County loses, even if his election lawsuit fails.”