On Friday, the 6-month long audit of Maricopa county’s 2020 election came to an end. The audit was conducted in response to false claims that widespread fraud occurred in the 2020 election that allowed Joe Biden to win over Donald Trump. The Republican-backed review came up with a vote tally that would not have altered the outcome, finding that Biden won by 360 more votes than the official results certified last year.
Cyber Ninjas, the firm that conducted the audit, acknowledged that there were “no substantial differences” between their hand count of ballots and the official count. But the report also made a series of other disputed claims the auditors say should cast doubt on the accuracy and warrant more investigation. However, most of the issues they present are disputed by election officials. They argue the review team is biased, ignored the detailed vote-counting procedures in Arizona law, and had no experience in the complex field of election audits.
Lawmakers in Arizona have been responding to the findings, with different perspectives and opinions on the findings.
Senator Kyrsten Sinema posted on Twitter, “It has been deeply troubling to see state leaders wasting time and taxpayer money sowing doubt about the election when no credible evidence of irregularities exists.”
Congressman Andy Biggs commented on Twitter, “The Arizona audit did what it set out to do, even while fighting intimidation tactics from the Far Left and obstruction from some Maricopa County officials. Uncovered errors, cyber security failures, and myriad of irregularities confirmed that Arizonans’ questions about the 2020 election were well founded.”
Ruben Gallego commented on Twitter, “Millions spent. Months wasted. All to confirm what we already knew…Joe Biden is President of the United States.”
“…45,469 more ballots were cast for Biden in Maricopa County than for Trump, giving Biden 360 more votes than the certified results”
— Ruben Gallego (@RepRubenGallego) September 24, 2021
Millions spent. Months wasted. All to confirm what we already knew…Joe Biden is President of the United States. https://t.co/tpldvYS6YO
Raul Grijalva stated, “The “results” of the Arizona election “audit” are unsurprising and an enormous waste of time and hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars. Audits and calls for election audits only continue to perpetuate the Big Lie that the 2020 Election was stolen and undermine the integrity of our electoral process. After six months of witnessing this whole fiasco unfold, Cyber Ninjas must unequivocally confirm what we already knew: Donald Trump was the biggest and sorest loser of the 2020 election and no sham audit or attempted media spin can change that.”
Before the audit results were released, Attorney General Mark Brnovich released a statement, “I will take all necessary actions that are supported by the evidence and where I have legal authority. Arizonans deserve to have their votes accurately counted and protected.”
