Arizona

Editorial: Those who want accuracy and integrity rage FOR the (vote-counting) machine, not against it. | EJ Montini/Arizona Republic

If there were only a dozen or so of us living a pioneer-like existence in Arizona, or perhaps a few hundred, maybe even a few thousand, a law that allows only for in-person voting, bans electronics and mandates a hand count of ballots that must be completed within 24 hours might make sense. Might. But there are millions of us, which makes the notion of requiring such a thing … insane. So, naturally, that is exactly what some Republicans in the Arizona Legislature are proposing, a return to the Stone Age of democracy, where there is no machine count, no early voting, no mail-in ballots, no common sense. When the bill to do this was revived in the Senate recently, Republican J.D. Mesnard recognized one of the many obvious problems with it, pointing out that in Maricopa County alone there are about 2.5 million votes cast, each of which has 70 to 80 races printed on it. In other words, that’s about 150 million votes to count.

Full Article: Vote counting machines exist for good reason. Why take them away?

Arizona Senate panel votes to require all ballots be hand counted | Howard Fischer/Arizona Daily Star

Full Article: Arizona Senate panel votes to require all ballots be hand counted | Govt-and-politics | tucson.com

Arizona: Maricopa County’s vote-counting machines were not connected to internet, independent review finds | Mary Jo Pitzl and Ronald J. Hansen/Arizona Republic

Maricopa County's vote-counting machines were not connected to the internet during the 2020 election, an independent review has found, further undercutting claims by former President Donald Trump and his allies that the results were "rigged." A trio of technology experts overseen by an impartial special master found no evidence of an internet connection, according to results of the review released Wednesday. That echoes the county's long-standing position as well as the findings of independent audits the county conducted a year ago. It also dispels unproven theories from election deniers that the tabulation machines were hooked up to the internet and therefore susceptible to hacking to throw the election to Joe Biden. Biden won Maricopa County by 45,109 votes, according to the official results. In a statement, Bill Gates, a Republican who chairs the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, said "the unanimous conclusions of this expert panel should be a final stake in the heart of the Senate's so-called 'audit.' "Whenever impartial, independent and competent people have examined the county's election practices, they have found no reason to doubt the integrity of those practices. The Board of Supervisors remains committed to free and fair elections that conform to federal and state laws."

Full Article: Arizona audit: County election machines weren't connected to internet

Arizona state senators block a dozen GOP-sponsored election reform bills | Michael McDaniel/Courthouse News Service

The Arizona Senate blocked a sweeping slate of GOP-sponsored election reform bills Monday that many state Republicans claimed would have addressed concerns of election integrity, following the state's audit of the 2020 presidential election. Twelve election reform bills failed to pass the Republican-controlled Senate due to nay votes from two Republicans. The surprising result came after sponsors and committees spent weeks amending and prepping the bills for their final Senate read. The GOP-dissenters of the bills were state Senators Michelle Ugenti-Rita, a Republican from Scottsdale, and Paul Boyer, a Republican from Glendale. Both have pushed back against claims from many of their colleagues that Joe's Biden 2020 presidential election was fraudulent, and they have received harsh criticism from the Arizona GOP as a result. "I do have some major concerns with this bill and I have a major concern about what we're doing today," Ugenti-Rita said, explaining her vote against Senate Bill 1570. The bill would have prevented some voting equipment from being connected to the internet, in a bid to safeguard against hacking. "I have never seen this amount of bills for one section of law come up over the course of a few days and just be allowed to die. I think that's poor leadership. I've been here for 11 years. That is not how we do things," Ugenti-Rita said. "I don't think it's fair to the sponsors. I don't think it's fair to the other members. And honestly, I think that there's an agenda behind it and I find it inappropriate." Full Article: Arizona state senators block a dozen GOP-sponsored election reform bills | Courthouse News Service

Arizona Republicans continue pushing voting restrictions, risking backfire | Kirk Ziegler/NPR

By last count at the Arizona State Capitol, close to a hundred voting bills have been introduced, part of a nationwide push by far-right Republican controlled legislatures to pass restrictive voting laws. The swing state of Arizona is front and center — home to 10% of all the proposed legislation — despite two audits showing no problems with the 2020 Presidential Election. One of those, done by the Florida firm, Cyber Ninjas, actually handed more votes to President Biden, who narrowly won Arizona. Critics of the so-called voter reform push see it as part of a slide toward authoritarianism. But State Rep. John Fillmore, an architect of some of the bills currently pending in Arizona, disputes claims that Republicans want to suppress votes. "I want every American to have the opportunity to vote," Fillmore said one sunny morning on the plaza in front of the Arizona House of Representatives. Fillmore represents one of Arizona's most conservative districts around Apache Junction, in the suburban desert east of Phoenix. The businessman often seen in a bolo tie says many of the proposed bills, which range from measures to require all ballots be hand counted to restrictions on ballot drop off boxes, are a response to concerns by his constituents. Full Article: Arizona Republicans continue pushing voting restrictions, risking backfire : NPR

Just what Arizona needs: an imaginary ballot box to combat imaginary election fraud | Laurie Roberts/Arizona Republic

Comes now the latest in the Republicans’ unrelenting and at times unhinged assault against Arizona’s elections. Today’s victim: Arizona’s wildly popular early voting system, a decades-old program that was lauded as a national model until Donald Trump lost an election and Republican leaders lost their minds. Senate Bill 1571 would bar voters who receive early ballots from dropping them in the mail. Instead, we’d have to take our ballots to a “smart” drop box. One that doesn’t exist. This plan comes courtesy of Sen. Kelly Townsend, an Apache Junction Republican who is hoping to convince Tucson that she should represent them in Congress next year. This bill is, at least, a step up from her earlier efforts to outright ignore the results of an election. This time, she’s just trying to make it harder for people to vote in the first place. All this, in the name of eliminating all that supposed fraud that not even the Senate’s own ninja auditors could find after an exhaustive examination of Arizona’s 2020 election.

Full Article: An imaginary ballot box to fight imaginary fraud? Genius plan!

Arizona: GOP-led Senate panel votes to hand-count all ballots | Bob Christie/Associated Press

Republican state senators on Monday advanced legislation that would require every ballot cast in Arizona's elections to be counted by hand, with GOP proponents who embraced former President Donald Trump's false narrative of massive voter fraud calling it a needed reform. The proposal from Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, was approved by the Senate Government Committee Monday afternoon on a 4-3 vote with no Democratic support. The measure is one of scores of election bills making their way through the Legislature this year. Rogers said her proposal for an all-hand count tabulation was prompted by comments made by Doug Logan, the CEO of the firm the Arizona Senate hired to recount 2.1 million Maricopa County ballots last spring, Cyber Ninjas. “This does away with the machines," Rogers said. “When I interviewed cyber forensic expert Doug Logan ... he told me that the biggest finding he has from the audit is that the more technology we use, the more chance there is to cheat." Logan's hand-counting operation used hundreds of people, lasted weeks and only recounted the presidential and U.S. Senate races. He confirmed that President Joe Biden won, as the original machine count had found. Jen Marson, executive director of the Arizona Association of Counties, said the proposal was simply unworkable. “As we know, we cannot get enough people in many of our counties to conduct the limited hand count that happens post-election,” Marson told the panel. “I struggle to believe that we would have enough people to hand count the entire election and all of the different ballot styles associated with that election in any kind of timely fashion.” Full Article: GOP-led Arizona Senate panel votes to hand-count all ballots | Hosted

Arizona Senate Republicans push bills to combat ‘voter fraud’ | Michael McDaniel/Courthouse News Service

An Arizona Senate committee voted Thursday to advance election reform bills that would prohibit the use of drop boxes and add a precinct tallying requirement prior to county tallying. Senator Wendy Rogers, a Republican from Flagstaff, presented Senate Bills 1058 and 1343 to the Senate Government Committee. “I’m Senator Rogers, I’m the sponsor of this bill,” Rogers said of Senate Bill 1058. “This is basically no more drop boxes. Over.” The former Air Force pilot’s comments were met with applause and laughter from the majority-conservative gallery. The chairwoman reminded the crowd that they must observe decorum in the reading or be excused from the proceedings. The committee took comments from the public, with few dissenters of the bills. One dissenter felt the bills could sway voter engagement. “I’m concerned about this and the other bills regulating voting because new restrictions on voting will have the effect of disenfranchising voters who may feel they can’t meet the challenges, and for no valid reason,” said Judith Simon, who has worked as a teacher for 33 years. “I’m thinking of voters in rural and tribal areas, [and] disabled and elderly voters, who may not read all the particular legal details and just hear, ‘Oh, we can’t use drop boxes at all anymore.’” Full Article: Arizona Senate Republicans push bills to combat ‘voter fraud’ | Courthouse News Service

Arizona bill would allow legislature to overturn election results | Reid Wilson/The Hill

Full Article: Arizona bill would allow legislature to overturn election results | TheHill

Arizona: Cyber Ninjas CEO Logan not ready to turn over audit records | Ryan Randazzo/Arizona Republic

Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan says he will not turn over records from the review of Maricopa County's 2020 election until he has a "clear" ruling he can appeal to the highest court. Logan answered questions during a contentious deposition with attorneys for The Arizona Republic and American Oversight. The news organization and the left-leaning nonprofit have battled in court for months for the release of texts, emails and other documents related to the ballot recount and related investigations of the 2020 election ordered by Republicans in the Arizona Senate. "He started off very complacent and happy to answer questions, but as it went on he became more combative," said Craig Hoffman, The Republic's attorney, who questioned Logan during the more than four-hour deposition. "He was clearly frustrated by the end of it." Maricopa County Superior Court Judge John Hannah on Jan. 6 found Cyber Ninjas in contempt of an order to turn over the records and imposed a $50,000 a day fine against the company for not producing the records. Since then, The Republic's lawsuit was consolidated with American Oversight's, which is why the lawyers for both parties got to question Logan on Thursday. Logan said Hannah's November order to the company to turn over records was the result of a "biased judge," according to Hoffman. Logan went on "long soliloquies" during the deposition on how he did not believe his company was obligated to turn over records because they should not be public, Hoffman said.

Full Article: Cyber Ninjas CEO Logan not ready to turn over Arizona audit records

Arizona Republicans propose major changes to elections after GOP review finds no fraud | Jane C. Timm/NBC

Arizona Republicans have put forth two dozen bills this month that would significantly change the state's electoral processes after the GOP's unorthodox review of millions of ballots affirmed President Joe Biden's victory and turned up no proof of fraud. Proposals introduced in the state House or the Senate would add an additional layer to the state's voter ID requirement, such as fingerprints, and stipulate the hand counting of all ballots by default. Other legislation would require that paper ballots be printed with holograms and watermarks. Republican legislators argue that the proposals, part an ongoing surge of GOP-led election changes enacted or under consideration across the country, are necessary to enhance election security and prevent fraud. Official counts, audits and accuracy tests have confirmed the election results in Arizona and elsewhere without finding evidence of widespread fraud, and states with Republican and Democratic leaders have certified the results as accurate. Former President Donald Trump, who continues to promote the lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, was unable to prove any of the claims in court. A coalition of federal agencies involved in election security, alongside representatives of election officials from each state, said the election was "the most secure in American history."

Full Article: Arizona Republicans propose major changes to elections after GOP review finds no fraud

Arizona Senate asks Cyber Ninjas if audit files stored in data center | Robert Anglen/Arizona Republic

Arizona Senate President Karen Fann is asking contractors who led the largely discredited audit of Maricopa County's election results if public records are being stored at a data center. In a two-sentence letter Thursday, sent to lead contractor Cyber Ninjas and three other companies that worked on the audit, Fann said Senate lawyers learned the company might have leased a data center. "We recently learned that a data center, possibly leased to Cyber Ninjas, Inc, or StratTech Solutions, may be housing records concerning the Arizona State Senate's audit of the 2020 election in Maricopa County," Fann wrote. "Please confirm as soon as possible whether this information is correct and, if so, when and on what terms the Senate may access the facility or its resources." Fann said Thursday she has little information about the data center. She said it's unknown where it is located, why it might have been leased or what records could be stored there. "There's not a lot I can say," she said. "I received info that possible records were stored in a data center." Fann's inquiry comes as the Senate defends itself from two lawsuits, now combined, over access to records in the partisan election review. The Arizona Republic and a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group called American Oversight both sued the Senate to make the records public. The Republic also sued Cyber Ninjas.

Full Article: Arizona Senate asks Cyber Ninjas if audit files stored in data center

Arizona: Cyber Ninjas, firm that led ballot review, is closed | Derek Gilliam/Sarasota Herald-Tribune

The CEO of the Florida cybersecurity company that conducted a highly contested election review in Arizona confirmed Friday that his company has closed and laid off its employees. News of the closure had reached Arizona on Thursday shortly before a judge issued an order finding the company in contempt of court and imposing a fine of $50,000 a day for its failure to produce records requested by The Arizona Republic. Company founder Doug Logan on Friday confirmed the shutdown to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, but said it wasn't because of the fines, pointing instead to cash flow issues. He notified the remaining four employees — down from eight when the audit started last year in Maricopa County — of the decision to close the business the first week of December. "Yes, we closed our doors and laid off our employees," he said. "No. It did not have anything to do with what happened yesterday." The employees were laid off Jan. 1 and will have health insurance through the month, he said. Part of Cyber Ninjas' cash flow problems, Logan said, stemmed from the Arizona Senate not adhering to the contract signed when it hired the company to conduct the audit. Logan said the company was never fully paid for the audit, nor did the Senate indemnify the company as was required by the company's contract.

Full Article: Cyber Ninjas, firm that led Arizona ballot review, is closed

Arizona GOP officials in Maricopa County affirm 2020 election was secure in rebuttal to Trump claims | Rosalind S. Helderman(The Washington Post

Full Article: GOP officials in Arizona’s largest county affirm 2020 election was secure in rebuttal to Trump claims - The Washington Post

Arizona: ‘You’ll get nothing out of this’: Partisans with limited experience stumble through gaffe-prone ‘audit’ | Ronald J. Hansen, Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Jen Fifield/Arizona Republic

On the day in March that Ken Bennett joined the state Senate’s ballot review team, he wanted a Democrat to join him. Bennett, the Republican former state Senate president and secretary of state, was well known in conservative circles. But he wanted to add bipartisan credibility to a Republican-led effort cast as a forensic audit of Maricopa County’s election results. He called his friend, F. Ann Rodriguez, the recently retired Pima County recorder. Rodriguez, a Democrat, oversaw more than 280 elections over 28 years in office. She laughed. “Ken, you don’t have enough money to pay me to do that,” she remembered telling him on March 23. “There is a no-win situation in that one. No matter what comes out, we know in politics there’s a fall person. You’ll get nothing out of this, Ken. Absolutely nothing.” That same day, Helen Purcell, the former Republican Maricopa County recorder, told Bennett why she had turned down the job as liaison to the ballot review that he had just taken. “I just don’t think any good can come of this,” she told him. Three days later, Bennett contacted the Arizona Democratic Party, whose leaders were roundly skeptical the review would be fair or boost public confidence. They declined to participate. On March 28, Bennett began reaching out to Pete Rios, the former Democratic state senator from Pinal County, who is a former county supervisor there. “I need your help,” Rios remembered Bennett saying when they finally spoke on April 1. “You’re the first one I thought of.” Rios said he needed several days to consider the offer. In truth, he doubted he would do it; only his respect for Bennett kept him from turning it down flat. After consulting three fellow Democrats, all of whom warned against joining a “fiasco,” Rios told Bennett he couldn’t take the job. “Ken, my D’s will hang me if there is some question at the end of this audit that says that there was fraud when there really wasn’t,” Rios told Bennett in April. Full Article: Arizona audit: Partisans stumble through gaffe-prone election review

Arizona Election Audit Reinforced Doubt About 2020 Election Results | Erin Snodgrass/Business Insider

When organizers of the troubled GOP-led election audit in Maricopa County, Arizona, finally released results from the months-long, oft-delayed recount in September, the findings confirmed that President Joe Biden beat former President Donald Trump fairly in the largest county in the once-solidly red state. But despite the additional proof of Biden's success, the controversial "audit" actually played a role in increasing the level of doubt surrounding the historic presidential election, according to a new Monmouth University poll. Earlier this year, the state's GOP-controlled Senate chose Cyber Ninjas, a private firm, to carry out another count of the 2.1 million ballots in Maricopa County, where Biden beat Trump by more than 45,000 votes. Billed by Senate Republicans as a mechanism to instill faith in US elections, the controversial audit was funded by right-wing donors and widely criticized, even by other local Republicans in the state. Maricopa County's GOP-led Board of Supervisors said the recount's draft reports were "littered with errors and faulty conclusions." Even still, the effort found that Biden did beat Trump, resulting in an additional 99 votes for Biden and a loss of 261 votes for Trump. In a Monmouth University poll of 811 adults in the US by telephone from November 4 to 8 of this year, the majority of Americans, 36% said the review proved that Biden won the county fairly and another 21% said they aren't sure about the report but guess that it probably showed Biden's legitimate victory. Full Article: Arizona Election Audit Reinforced Doubt About 2020 Election Results

Arizona: Election experts warn Chandler not to adopt mobile voting because it’s ‘dangerously insecure’ | Ben Giles/KJZZ

As Chandler runs a mock election using blockchain technology for mobile voting, an election advocacy group urged the city not to adopt what they called a “dangerously insecure” voting method. Verified Voting, a non-partisan organization that advocates for paper ballots, issued a statement warning that “there is simply no secure way to electronically return voted ballots while protecting voter privacy, maintaining ballot secrecy and still providing a verifiable record of the voter’s intent.” ... C.Jay Coles, a senior policy analyst with Verified Voting, doesn’t deny that blockchain tech is designed to keep information secure. But there’s no way of knowing whether the voter’s personal device — in this case, a cellphone — is secure. “So is there anything on the voter's device that is malicious, that can alter what the voter is inputting in their own device before it is entered into the blockchain?” Coles said. Once the vote has been cast and is secured using blockchain, “the voter has no idea if it was entered correctly, and the elections office has no way of knowing whether or not the voter's intent is accurately captured in that record, because you can't go back to the voter and ask them because that violates the right of a secret ballot,” Coles added.

Full Article: Officials warn Chandler not to adopt mobile voting | KJZZ

Arizona Court to Rule on Contempt Charge Against State Senate | Charles Davis/Business Insider

An Arizona court is set to decide early next month whether to hold the Republican-led state Senate in contempt for failing to hand over documents related to the partisan, Cyber Ninjas review of ballots cast in the 2020 election. On Tuesday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Michael Kemp set a hearing for December 2 to address the lack of compliance with his earlier ruling that the documents should be handed over. Attorneys for the state Senate, which commissioned the review of Maricopa County's 2.1 million ballots, have said some of the documents are protected by "legislative privilege," an argument the court rejected last month. "[I]t is hard to imagine more serious litigation than the disclosure of documents underlying an audit of the election of the President of the United States and a United States Senator," Judge Kemp wrote at the time. "This goes to the heart of our democracy and this audit was done in response to allegations of fraud and corruption." The controversial, GOP-led audit of Arizona's election results further confirmed President Joe Biden's 2020 victory over Donald Trump. Republicans in Arizona's state Senate commissioned Cyber Ninjas to helm the audit in April 2021 after Biden became the first Democrat to win in Maricopa County since 1948. Full Article: Arizona Audit: Court to Rule on Contempt Charge Against State Senate

Arizona Attorney General questions former Maricopa County election offical | Jonathan J. Cooper/Associated Press

Former Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes said Monday he was questioned by investigators from Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s office about the 2020 election. The questioning of Fontes, a Democrat who oversaw mail-in balloting last year but lost his own re-election bid, suggests Brnovich is pressing ahead with his pledge to review the findings of the state Senate Republicans’ partisan review of the 2020 election. That review, led and almost entirely funded by supporters of former President Donald Trump, confirmed President Joe Biden’s victory in Maricopa County but spread falsehoods about alleged malfeasance. Brnovich is seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate but could be weighed down by sharp criticism from Trump, who retains considerable sway with the GOP base. Trump repeatedly attacked Brnovich earlier this year as “lackluster,” claiming the attorney general wasn’t doing enough to advance the false claim that Trump’s loss in Arizona was the result of fraud. Fontes, who is running in a contested Democratic primary for secretary of state, said he spoke for about an hour Monday morning with two special agents from Brnovich’s office. He said the discussion was “professional and collegial,” but he said the agents did not seem to know much about election systems. “If they were trying to build an actual case, they would’ve been prepared before they asked me any questions,” Fontes told The Associated Press. “This is nothing more than political box-checking and an abuse of power by a desperate Republican Senate nominee.”

Full Article: Arizona AG questions former Maricopa County election offical

Arizona GOP Senate President Says Cyber Ninjas in Breach of Contract Following Audit | Daniel Villareal/Newsweek

Karen Fann, the Republican leader of the Arizona state Senate, has said that Cyber Ninjas, the private company commissioned to conduct an audit of Maricopa County's election results, is now in "breach of contract" with the state for not providing audit-related documentation. In an October 26 letter to Cyber Ninjas and CEO Doug Logan, Fann said that she had previously sent Logan a September 14 letter. In that letter, Fann told the company to submit all its audit-related records to her in order to comply with a court order. Cyber Ninjas only provided 300 records, "an insubstantial percentage of all existing responsive records," Fann wrote. "Accordingly, Cyber Ninjas' inadequate response to my September 14 request places it in material breach of the (contract) as construed by the court," her letter continued. "The Senate reserves its rights to pursue any and every applicable claim or reemit to enforce the agreement's provisions." Full Article: GOP Arizona Senate President Says Cyber Ninjas in Breach of Contract Following Audit

Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward Pushes for Election Audits in Each of State’s 15 Counties | Andrew Stanton/Newsweek

Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward is calling for election audits in every county in the state, even after an audit of Maricopa County upheld the results of the 2020 presidential election. Some Republicans have insisted that former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election due to widespread voter fraud in battleground states like Arizona, even though no substantive evidence has been presented to support the allegations. Audits have also been called in several other states over such unproven claims. In a new video entitled "Special Update," Ward claims an analysis of election results in Pima County found inconsistencies. Pima is the state's second-largest county and home to Tucson, a Democratic stronghold. Ward said there should be an audit of not only Pima County but every county in the state. "I've been asking for full audits of all 15 of Arizona's counties," she said. "We the people will not back down. We will not waver." The push for more audits comes days after Trump also called for a review in Pima County. In a statement released October 15, the former president claimed that an analysis of mail-in ballots indicates there were "fictitious votes" cast in the county. Full Article: Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward Pushes for Election Audits in Each of State's 15 Counties

Arizona: Trump now claims voter fraud in Pima County; officials say he’s wrong | Sam Kmack/Arizona Daily Star

Full Article: Trump now claims voter fraud in Pima County; officials say he's wrong | Local news | tucson.com

Arizona audit review shows Cyber Ninjas didn’t count 312K ballots, double counted 23K | Robert Anglen/The Arizona Republic

The hand count in Maricopa County was off by hundreds of thousands of ballots, according to a review of newly released Arizona audit records. Election analysts say Cyber Ninjas' count was off by about 312,000 and it also double counted almost 23,000 ballots in its months-long review of 2020 election results. The numbers represent the latest challenge to the Arizona Senate's audit, which was led by Cyber Ninjas, involved more than a thousand volunteers and cost millions of dollars. A 695-page report, produced by former Arizona GOP chair and audit spokesperson Randy Pullen, was supposed to provide a snapshot of all the counts of the 2.1 million ballots cast in the county's general election. The Arizona Senate released the report late Friday after The Arizona Republic filed a request under the state's Public Records Law. But Cyber Ninjas didn't tally as many as 167,000 Maricopa County ballots, according to analysts who reviewed the report for The Republic. The hand-count numbers in the report reflect a 15% error rate when compared with a separate machine count of ballots authorized by the Arizona Senate, they said. Full Article: Arizona audit review shows Cyber Ninjas didn't count 312K ballots

Arizona: Judge rejects Senate claim some election audit records are private | Howard Fischer/Arizona Daily Star

Full Article: Judge rejects Arizona Senate's claim some election audit records are private | Local news | tucson.com

Arizona: Maricopa County officials blast election review’s ‘spread of disinformation’ | Diannie Chavez/Cronkite News

Maricopa County supervisors told a congressional committee Thursday that the state Senate’s review of the county’s 2020 election results amounted to a “staggering refusal to follow the will of the voters.” The remarks came during a House Oversight and Reform Committee that asked whether the Arizona election probe and copycats springing up in other states are a threat to American democracy. The four-hour hearing was sometimes tedious, sometimes fiery, but it did not appear to change any minds. Democrats on the committee called the six-month, multimillion-dollar Cyber Ninjas’ “audit” of the election little more than an attempt to erode confidence in the electoral process by raising multiple conspiratorial questions. And Republicans insisted that more questions need to be asked. “We have identified there are some things we can do better in our elections in Arizona,” said Ken Bennett, the former Arizona secretary of state who was the Senate’s liaison to Cyber Ninjas. “I hope the Legislature and the governor will follow through and … introduce bills to tighten things up.” Bennett said people on both sides of the issue should “understand that there’s nothing wrong with auditing elections.” Full Article: Maricopa officials blast election review's 'spread of disinformation' - Cronkite News - Arizona PBS

Arizona Vote Review ‘Made Up the Numbers,’ Election Experts Say | Michael Wines and Nick Corasaniti/The New York Times

The circuslike review of the 2020 vote commissioned by Arizona Republicans took another wild turn on Friday when veteran election experts charged that the very foundation of its findings — the results of a hand count of 2.1 million ballots — was based on numbers so unreliable that they appear to be guesswork rather than tabulations. The organizers of the review “made up the numbers,” the headline of the experts’ report reads. The experts, a data analyst for the Arizona Republican Party and two retired executives of an election consulting firm in Boston, said in their report that workers for the investigators failed to count thousands of ballots in a pallet of 40 ballot-filled boxes delivered to them in the spring. The final report by the Republican investigators concluded that President Biden actually won 99 more votes than were reported, and that former President Donald J. Trump tallied 261 fewer votes. But given the large undercount found in just a sliver of the 2.1 million ballots, it would effectively be impossible for the Republican investigators to arrive at such precise numbers, the experts said.

  Source: Arizona Vote Review ‘Made Up the Numbers,’ Election Experts Say - The New York Times

Arizona Audit Backers Turn on Each Other After Recount Flop | Will Sommer/The Daily Beast

Supporters of Republicans’ controversial “audit” of 2020 presidential election ballots have turned on each other after the partisan investigation failed to find proof of election malfeasance, with disaffected backers even circulating a fabricated rival report they claim shows interference by the “deep state.” The audit report landed with a thud on Friday, only proving, if anything, that Joe Biden won Arizona by more votes than previously realized. On this week’s episode of The Daily Beast’s Fever Dreams podcast, hosts Asawin Suebsaeng and Will Sommer are joined by Arizona Mirror reporter Jerod MacDonald-Evoy to discuss the audit’s fractious aftermath. “Some people who were involved in the report say the deep state kept the real truth out,” Sommer said on this week’s episode. “The deep state and the politically correct lawyers and RINOs of the GOP suppressed this,” said MacDonald-Evoy, summarizing right-wing critics’ complaints about the anti-climactic audit report. Among the audit report’s new detractors: Jovan Hutton Pulitzer, the controversial inventor whose supposed technology analyzing folds in ballot paper had promised, according to audit supporters, to detect some kind of voter fraud. Instead, the final audit report contained no mention of Pulitzer’s imaging technology, a change Pulitzer attributed on Twitter to “deep state” malfeasance. Asked over email who in the “deep state” supposedly sabotaged his contribution to the report, Pulitzer remained vague. “That’s the big question — is it not?” Pulitzer wrote in an email to The Daily Beast. Full Article: Arizona Audit Backers Turn on Each Other After Recount Flop

Arizona: ‘We won’: Trump and his allies barrel ahead with election lies despite review confirming his loss | Jeremy Herb and Fredreka Schouten/CNN

Full Article: Arizona election audit: Trump and his allies barrel ahead with election lies despite review confirming his loss - CNNPolitics

Arizona Secretary of State’s Ability to Defend Election Laws Restored By Judge’s Ruling | Mary Ellen Cagnassola/Newsweek

Republican-passed laws in Arizona that ban schools form requiring masks and restrict the ability of local governments to enact COVID-19 requirements were dismantled by a judge Monday, a devastating blow to a nationwide GOP effort to limit pandemic rules. The decision by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper could create a path for Arizona cities and countries to enact mask requirements, if it withstands an impending appeal. Nearly 30 public school systems ignored the laws and required masks for students and staff. Republican Governor Doug Ducey's office called the ruling "clearly an example of judicial overreach." "Arizona's state government operates with three branches, and it's the duty and authority of only the legislative branch to organize itself and to make laws," C.J. Karamargin said in a statement. "Unfortunately, today's decision is the result of a rogue judge interfering with the authority and processes of another branch of government." Full Article: Arizona Secretary of State's Ability to Defend Election Laws Restored By Judge's Ruling

Arizona Senate leaders confirm Biden win but call for further review of election procedures | Mary Jo Pitzl and Jen Fifield/Arizona Republic

The Maricopa County election review hit a crescendo Friday when its results were presented to the Arizona Senate Republicans who ordered it in the heated aftermath of last year's presidential election. It was a major milestone — if not the end — of the nearly 10-month odyssey pushed largely by election conspiracists loyal to former President Donald Trump, who believed a thorough review would show county elections officials didn't get it right. But any hopes for such a conclusion were dashed early by Senate President Karen Fann, R-Prescott, who confirmed in her opening remarks what draft versions of the reports leaked to journalists the day before said: The hand recount of ballots showed Joe Biden won the election in Maricopa County, cementing his win in Arizona. “That is a true statement. Truth is truth, numbers are numbers," Fann said as a packed audience in the Senate gallery listened quietly. She added, though, that she believed there were "broken statutes" and flawed election procedures — issues that she would turn over to Attorney General Mark Brnovich to investigate.

Full Article: Arizona audit: Senate confirms Biden win, but more review to come