PHOENIX (AP) — In Arizona’s most populous county, elected officials are prepared for what might happen when the time comes to replace their $2 million-a-year contracts for voting equipment.

Officials in Maricopa County, including Phoenix, said they have no concerns about the current vendor, Dominion Voting Systems. The problem is that the company is trapped. web of conspiracy theories Since the 2020 presidential election, undermine public trust in US elections among conservative voters, ban voting machines some places and caused death threats To election officials nationwide.

2020 Republican Elected Maricopa County Stephen Richer said, “If I were to reenlist the Dominion, I would be concerned for my own safety.” It has become a company that is one of the most demonized brands in the world.”

That sudden reversal of the Colorado-based voting machine company’s fortunes $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit A lawsuit has been filed against Fox News and the trial is expected to begin in mid-April.Dominion claims Fox defamed it repeatedly broadcast false claims About the company’s voting machines and software.Court records and testimony indicate that several fox host and management did not believe Since the 2020 election, it has been claimed by former President Donald Trump and his supporters that they have continued to air. Worried about losing viewers.

Fox claimed The network was reporting newsworthy allegations as Trump and his Republican allies feuded his loss To Joe Biden, Democrats. The network says Dominion overstates its value and downplays security concerns about its machines. It is claimed to show

Dominion has presented evidence showing lost contracts and business opportunities over the past two years. Officials in some counties of Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee terminated the contract, while other counties in Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, and Ohio opposed renewal, citing: You are giving incorrect information.

In a report Dominion filed in November as part of the lawsuit, one expert estimated that the company lost about $16 million in profits from customers who terminated their contracts early or decided not to renew. doing.

By the same estimate, Dominion has already lost $72.3 million. This includes potential contract extensions, additional equipment sales and service agreements with existing customers, and new business.

Overall, experts estimate that the company’s value was reduced by $920 million, including estimated taxes the company would have to pay if damages were awarded. Experts also estimated further future lost opportunities that have not yet been made public.

Dominion spokeswoman Stephanie Wallstrom said, “Before Fox started spreading and supporting baseless lies about Dominion’s voting machines, Dominion was a valuable, fast-growing company and had plans to implement expansion plans. There is evidence that it did,” he said. statement.

Like the last presidential conspiracy, the company’s challenges aren’t over penetrated much of the Republican PartyTrump’s allies continue to travel across the country in meetings with community groups, Holding a forum Facilitate election intrigue.

Some county officials say they are addressing voter concerns, citing it as justification for the conspiracy. Deny authentication It has facilitated election results and attempts to decertify or ban voting equipment.

“People are not acting rationally,” said Lawrence Norden, an election security expert at the Brennan Center for Justice. “They are canceling contracts at a great cost to taxpayers. .”

Not included in Dominion’s expert report are recent actions involving Shasta County, Calif., where the oversight board terminated its contract with Dominion early. At its January meeting, the board cited a loss of public confidence in the machines used to tally hand-marked paper ballots in counties.

In 2020, Trump won Shasta County with 65% of the vote.

“The Dominion must prove to me that we are having free and fair elections,” said Patrick Henry Jones, chairman of the supervisory board who led the effort to terminate the deal. said. “Just because we all sat here and got elected doesn’t mean we had free and fair elections every time.”

The Board is currently moving forward with a plan to count the ballots by hand. Poor accuracy and time consuming In all but the smallest jurisdictions.friend of trump Mike LindellThe CEO of MyPillow has pledged to support efforts to eliminate voting machines.

In an interview, Lindell said he stands ready to cover the costs of any lawsuits Shasta County may face.

“They are well within their rights to go to paper ballots and handcounts,” Lindell said. ”

Elected Shasta County Clerk and Registrar of Voters Kathy Darling Allen defended the voting machine and accused “unproven conspiracy theories” for undermining the county’s election system and staff. She warned the county was in danger of not being able to hold an election.

“Their actions endangered the security of our election and created a dangerous precedent for outsiders to undermine our election at the county level,” Darling Allen told Congress earlier this month. I wrote in my testimony.

She estimates that hand-counting every ballot in the presidential election, which includes 50 contests, would cost at least $1.6 million and would require the employment of nearly 1,300 temporary workers. . In the county, she has over 111,000 registered voters.

Election security experts were concerned that the market for voting machines was already restricted ahead of the 2020 elections, dominated by three companies. One of Dominion’s competitors, Election Systems & Software, has not reported contract cancellations, but has been forced to defend its reputation amidst the voting machine conspiracy.

Fox attorney Erin Murphy told a Delaware Superior Court judge presiding over the defamation lawsuit at a recent hearing that Dominion has a “real problem of speculation” regarding its claim for damages. Dominion’s lost earnings claim is the presumption that the company would have won all the contracts it was seeking had it not been for Fox’s reporting on the alleged election fraud.

This ignores the fact that Dominion’s rivals sometimes offer lower bids or more attractive technology, Murphy said. Fox’s internal communications include a chat in which one of his Dominion employees said “our product sucks” and a federal advisory outlining potential vulnerabilities reported in Dominion’s systems. is emphasized.

Maricopa County, Arizona has been at the forefront of conspiracy theories about the Dominion. The Republican-controlled Congress will use its subpoena powers to seize county voting equipment in 2021 and hire a company run by Trump supporters to comb through it for evidence that the machines have been compromised. I was. They found nothing, and Doug Logan, who oversaw the project, admitted in a private text message that surfaced in an unrelated lawsuit, “The Dominion machine is actually very accurate.” is persistent.

Waldeep Singh, Dominion’s executive vice president of sales, said in a court filing that the conditions in Arizona make it impossible to do business there. He accused conspiracy theories of ruining the company’s chances of winning business in Yavapai County, a conservative rural county north of Phoenix.

“What I can say is that based on my experience and the trajectory of my time in Arizona, we were headed in a very positive direction.

Now he said, “I don’t think I’ll win again in Arizona.” ___ Cassidy reported from Atlanta. Randall Chase, Associated Press writer, Wilmington, Delaware. David Bowder and Jennifer Peltz in New York. and Nicholas Riccardi of Denver contributed to this report.