Arizona’s ongoing forensic audit of Maricopa County’s 2020 general election ballots has been a mixed bag. The state’s elections director, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, disputed the audit process Wednesday (May 5) and tried to block the audit. As a result, the contact person for the forensic audit, former Secretary of State Ken Bennett, does not expect the audit to be completed by May 14, as originally scheduled.
The audit began April 23 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. The auditors have booked and secured the space and can use it through May 14. Bennett said the audit could take longer than the originally planned May 14 end date. “Analysis of the equipment used in the 2020 election was completed over the weekend, but reviewing other materials will take more time.”
However, the stadium has been booked for high school graduations from May 15 through the following days. In response, Bennett said his plan is to move the ballots and other materials into a secure area of the gym at that time to allow the gym to hold ceremonial events, after which they will move the ballots out and restart the audit until it is finalized.
In a settlement letter to Bennett in the lawsuit, Hobbs outlined his 13 concerns about the audit, including seven concerns about the counting procedures disclosed by the state Senate and the audit contractor, Cyber Ninjas, and six concerns about what her observers saw at the audit site and asked them to enforcement.
Under the terms of the lawsuit settlement filed Wednesday, defendants Bennett, Arizona Senate President Karen Fann and lead auditor Cyber Ninjas, based in Florida, have 48 hours to respond to Hobbs’ concerns. If the issues are not resolved, Hobbs can take them to court again for violating the settlement.
The Arizona Democratic Party had filed a last-minute lawsuit against the state Senate leadership to try to stop the audit at the start of the process. However, their request to stop the audit immediately was denied by the judge. The settlement means the case is over.
“The settlement in Arizona Democrats v. Fann (ADP v. s. Fann) requires the Senate to establish procedures to protect our votes, election equipment and data,” Hobbs said in a statement, “Today, I put the Senate on notice that security deficiencies remain and must be addressed in accordance with the agreement.”
And the official Twitter account for the audit, managed by Bennett’s team, said late Wednesday that Hobbs would “continue to make unfounded claims about this forensic audit, but has never led an election audit in her entire career. The message announced, “The audit continues.”
Bennett’s team encouraged Twitter users to retweet the above tweet, adding that they believe the audit is a state right. In a separate statement released late Wednesday, they said, “Democrats (Secretary of State Hobbs) who do not support election audits or transparency now want the federal government to step in with a forensic audit of the Arizona Senate. Arizona has the authority to conduct this audit without interference from the federal government.”
Bennett told the Arizona Capitol Times that night regarding Hobbs’ concerns, “I think most of the things in her letter are completely unfounded. And those things that have a modicum of plausibility can be easily dealt with.”
The state Senate said the “extensive and detailed” audit “will verify every area of the voting process,” including but not limited to: scanning all ballots, a full hand recount, auditing voter registration and voting, counting and electronic voting systems. This includes examining approximately 2.1 million ballots, as well as voting equipment including 385 tabulators.
However, under the settlement agreement with Democrats, the audit firm Cyber Ninjas and the hired auditors will not be able to match signatures on mail-in ballot envelopes with records in voter registration files.
Dr. Kelli Ward, chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, recently released a video making clear that most of the Democrats’ demands, including many mentioned in the settlement, are already in place.
Biden’s Justice Department also recently sent a letter to Arizona Senate President Karen Fann (D) questioning the forensic audit. And Biden is the first Democratic presidential nominee to win Maricopa County in decades.
Dr. Ward told The Gateway Pundit that Biden’s Justice Department’s intervention in the latest developments in the Arizona forensic audit was inappropriate and that the Justice Department has no authority to engage in direct review by the state legislature.
Last week, former President Trump (R-Texas) tweeted, “Why are the Democrats trying so hard to cover up the truth?” “I know why, and so do others.”
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