An Arizona judge on Wednesday, April 28, rejected a request by state Democrats to immediately halt an audit of 2.1 million ballots cast in Maricopa County’s 2020 election.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Daniel Martin, who just took over the case, said the Democrats did not provide “any substantial evidence of invasion or threat of invasion of voter privacy.
For example, Democratic lawyers argued that Cyber Ninjas, one of the four auditing firms hired by the state Senate, did not properly train its staff and did not implement a plan to secure ballots, for example. But the Democrats did not present enough evidence to convince the judge to stop the audit.
Martin said he took into account that the audit had already begun and that stopping it would cause “significant disruption. According to the ruling, the state Democratic Party must now decide whether to seek a review of the ruling by a higher court or advance an evidentiary hearing to defend its request to stop the audit.
On the same afternoon as Martin’s latest ruling, President Trump issued a statement saying, “Today Arizona scored a huge victory. A highly respected judge has just ruled that the ongoing legal audit of the state Senate can and will continue. Over 100 Democratic lawyers were sent to oppose this audit. Its (the audit’s) results will be of concern to America and the world. Why are the Democrats so desperate to hide the facts? I know why, and so does everyone else.”
“We will not be deterred,” the Arizona Republican Party also tweeted on the same day with an update: “Hand recount, full legal audit of Maricopa County 2020 general election continues. The (leftist) media and Democrats are working overtime to attack and sabotage the audit, don’t believe their lies.”
In response to Democratic allegations of “security breaches at the audit site,” former Secretary of State Ken Bennett, who was appointed audit director, said the audit site’s facilities are guarded by armed personnel 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to provide security.
Bennett said at an April 27 news conference, “Whoever wins the election is not going to get 100 percent of the people, but we should convince as close to 100 percent as possible that the election process was fair, and that’s what we’re going to do here.”
Bennett also appointed John Brakey, a progressive Democrat and co-founder of Audit USA, as his assistant liaison, as a way to block some of the allegations against the audit from the left.
Beginning last Friday (23), the state of Arizona officially launched a comprehensive audit of the 2.1 million ballots cast in Maricopa County in last year’s election. The day before the audit began, Democrats filed an emergency lawsuit asking a judge to order a halt to the audit, citing “a lack of due process by Senate Republicans to ensure the security of the ballots. But in the end, the Democrats rejected the judge’s request for a “conditional temporary restraining order,” refusing to pay the million-dollar bond, so the audit continued.
Arizona Republican Party Chairman Kelli Ward (D) said the Democrats will try to use all means to stop and delay the audit, including a nationwide blitzkrieg with the left media, using propaganda to discredit and stop the audit, but justice will not be deterred.
For more information on the Arizona audit, the public can monitor and watch the process at Azaudit.org.
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