FBI uncovers 2020 Maricopa voter data breach but prosecutors declined charges

Just days before the November 3, 2020 election, a hacker accessed Maricopa County’s voter registration portal and extracted roughly 633,000 records, including sensitive information on 933 voters such as domestic-violence victims and law-enforcement officers. FBI agents traced the intrusion to a residence in Fountain Hills, Arizona, where the suspect confessed to writing a PowerShell script that harvested the data between October 21 and November 2, 2020.

Despite the confession and extensive investigative resources, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Phoenix, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, and county prosecutors all declined to file charges, a decision documented in declassified memos released by the White House. The case was officially closed in May 2023 after the agencies cited the prosecutorial refusals as justification. No ballots were altered, and officials noted the breach did not reach the secure server storing the actual voter files. The incident was highlighted in intelligence community logs as a notable cyber intrusion surrounding the election.