Get a free daily digest of the most important news in your backyard with Axios Phoenix. The count raises more questions about Cyber Ninjas than Maricopa. Gates said in a statement that the county had handed over thousands of records sought by the attorney general and would respond to the latest request. In November 2020, aspoliticians all around him were diving for cover, Brnovich went on national TV toproclaim thatthere was simply no evidence that Donald Trump was robbed in Arizona. The audit was marked by practices that critics described as ranging from inappropriate to bizarre, including counters marking ballots with blue ink, which can alter how they are read by machines, and workers checking for traces of bamboo fibers based on a conspiracy theory that forged ballots may have been shipped in from Asia. Auditors have reportedly scanned ballots with UV lights to look for secret watermarks that conspiracy theorists believe then-President Donald Trumps Department of Homeland Security placed on legitimate ballots to differentiate them from fraudulent ones; theyve also inspected ballots for traces of bamboo to determine if they were imported from Asia. The process indulges the fantasies of the most extreme political fringe while ignoring the fact that there is zero evidence of any election fraud to warrant such intense scrutiny. No election can be conducted perfectly because its conducted by fallible human beings, he said. A handful of U.S. firms are certified by the independent, bipartisan Election Assistance Commission to do these kinds of checks, a process that requires the firms themselves to be audited every two years by the EAC, according to Jack Cobb, the laboratory director and co-founder of Pro V&V, an EAC-accredited firm that tests voting systems. At the same time, some conspiracy theorists suggested that ballots had been imported from overseas. Share this post on; Digg; Del.icio.us; REUTERS/Mike Blake. Although Trump carried Texas, Biden won three of the targeted counties. Not a word about bamboo. The Senate is asking a judge to delay any move to force it to immediately surrender certain election audit documents. The report is full of made-for-TV misleading numbers. Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. The latest Arizona headlines, national news events of the day + weather updates. Watch as the Arizona Senate presents the results of the audit of the presidential election votes. Republicans passed the bill out of the Senate Government Committee in a 4-3 party-line vote, but it is almost certain to die in a vote of the full Senate or in the House. Why even have an audit? Audit draft report confirms Biden got more Arizona votes than Trump, U.S. rejects grant to widen Interstate 10 between Phoenix, Tucson, Egg prices about to go up a bit more in Arizona due to new rules, Tim Steller's column: 'Umbrella Lady' was a reluctant Tucson icon in life, death, Hold on teeny tiny freshwater jellyfish have been spotted in Sabino Canyon (?! Situation Update: Keep Calm Babylon Is Falling! Now, its possible that that scribble thats in that box is exactly the signature that the person put in as well, Pullen said. Despite those findings, Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich is still reviewing questions the Senates "audit" raised about possible problems. And in the race for U.S. Senate, which also was reviewed, there also was no major change, with a difference of just 1,167 votes between the two tallies. Anyone who spent time on the University of Arizona campus from 1968 to 1987 might recognize David C. Wright. "We spent four hours on Zoom today,'' she said late Thursday, saying the team is "still working on the final report.''. Thishistoric momentwhen Arizonas conspiracy crowd can rise, with one voice, and proclaim, aHA!. The margin of victory in Arizona (and other close states where Biden won) were nowhere near that tight. So. From 2000 to 2019, there were only 31 statewide recounts out of 5,778 statewide general elections, according to a survey by FairVote, a nonpartisan group that advocates for election reforms. In additionSee this and similar jobs on LinkedIn. The revelations first published by The Washington Post on May 20 show that Ginni Thomas was more involved than previously known in efforts, based on unsubstantiated claims of fraud, to overturn Bidens victory and keep then-President Donald Trump in office. As of December 31, 2022, 3 Arizona school districts are at higher financial risk than other Arizona school districts based on analysis of 10 financial risk measures, decreasing from 6 districts in December 2021. The report, by a Republican ex-congressman, further undermines claims by some Trump supporters that Maricopa County machines were somehow hacked. But not very likely.. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. But the Cyber Ninjas count is different. #ElectionIntegrity, she tweeted. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. The purpose ofthis audit was to overturn the result of Arizonas presidential election, prove fraud and expose flaws in our election system. We did identify a few where they fell short, he told Capitol Media Services on Thursday. Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the worlds largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. Arizona Senate President Karen Fann, the Republican who paved the way for the so-called "full forensic audit" of 2.1 million ballots in Maricopa County, said the review's overall vote tally matched the initial results in November. BOMBSHELL UPDATE: Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan has just provided a firm date for the release of his Arizona audit report! What they found: The "audit" made dozens of allegations of problems with the 2020 election. The county said they could not be handed over to the private firm the Senate hired last year to do a complete review of the countys 2020 election results and systems for security reasons. PHOENIX Cyber Ninjas' nearly $6 million review of the 2020 election results did not find significant differences, says an unofficial draft report obtained Thursday evening by Capitol Media Services. Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs said the audit was filled with security lapses, delays, disorganization and a lack of transparency. She said the review failed to meet industry standards for an audit, much less an election audit., And the Arizona Democratic Party already has scheduled a press conference to occur four hours before the report is released, calling it a farcical, conspiracy-driven audit that is a disgrace to our democratic processes., It isnt only Democrats, however, who have raised questions. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, Inc., cash receipt frauds related to skimming and embezzlement schemes account for 23 percent of all occupational fraud in the United States and Canada and average about 15 months in duration before detection. The lead contractor was an obscure company, Cyber Ninjas, whose chief executive has promoted conspiracy theories about orchestrated fraud in the election. And she said that includes everything from letter spacing to the apparent speed of the writing. on wednesday, a member of the arizona election audit team that has been heavily touted by former president donald trump revealed that its examination of the 2020 vote in maricopa county will. Using its subpoena powers to seize the ballots from the local board, the state Senate hired Cyber Ninjas to conduct the audit. Notably, the firm has never performed any kind of election audit, and its founder and CEO, Doug Logan, has publicly supported Trump and shared election-fraud conspiracy posts. The recount took several months and resulted in a three-volume report by the Cyber Ninjas, the lead contractor for the Senate. Just moments after she was sworn . Hear from both sides of the aisle - CBS 13's Cody Lee reports. The report compiled by an outside special master and released by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors should be a final stake in the heart of the Senates so-called audit, Board Chairman Bill Gates said in a statement. Its frustrating to all of us," he said on Steve Bannon's podcast on Thursday. Support local journalism by becoming a member. Arizona's City of Scottsdale Unified School District No. The day after the November 2020 election, the chairs of the Republican, Democratic, and Libertarian parties of Maricopa County, Arizona, initiated a routine but important process to safeguard our democracy: a post-election audit. India to become worlds most populous country. Access unmatched financial data, news and content in a highly-customised workflow experience on desktop, web and mobile. The Senate was responding to theories that hacking or the injection of ballots over an internet connection led to Trumps loss in the county and statewide to President Joe Biden. Just how close the results have to be to trigger a recount varies by state. The result will almost certainly not be the greater transparency Republican state senators claim they seek. Threats are "completely unacceptable," said Senate President Karen Fann. 2023 FOX Television Stations, from WED 10:00 PM MST until THU 9:00 AM MST, Western Pima County including Ajo/Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Tohono O'odham Nation including Sells, Tucson Metro Area including Tucson/Green Valley/Marana/Vail, South Central Pinal County including Eloy/Picacho Peak State Park, Southeast Pinal County including Kearny/Mammoth/Oracle, The report compiled by an outside special master, hired by the Senate and released in September, Senate President Karen Fann had cut a deal with the county board last August, he demanded the county turn over thousands of signatures, Wes Moore sworn in as Marylands first Black governor, Deaf student's interpreter lawsuit at center of Supreme Court case, Alaskan aurora chaser gets amazing display right on his doorstep, 'My choice is to stay true to myself': Flyers' Provorov cites religion for boycott on Pride night, Racine police shooting; officers wounded, man arrested, Athena Brownfield: Caregiver for missing Oklahoma girl arrested in Arizona, Woman charged with attempted murder of boyfriend who peed in bed, Athena Brownfield: Man arrested in Phoenix beat missing Oklahoma girl to death, court documents say, Super Bowl LVII: Federal officials measuring radiation in the Phoenix area; here's what you should know, Dolly Parton adds new baking mixes to Duncan Hines lineup, Suspect shot during attempted robbery at Avondale gas station, 2 arrested months after deadly El Mirage shooting, Teen accused of opening fire on ASU campus indicted by grand jury, Maricopa County deputy hurt in Tempe crash. Having spent about 19 years on campus as an undergraduate, he amassed more then 300 . The Cyber Ninjas report includes several recommended areas that the firm suggests warrant further scrutiny, broken down by level of severity critical, high, medium, low and unknown (or, inits term, informational). Conducted by a company founded by an election-fraud conspiracy theorist and Trump supporter, the process is funded mostly by Trump loyalists and fails to meet any of the standards required for official recounts or audits by state law. Fann referred the audit's findings to the Attorney General's Office, which tells Axios that the investigation is ongoing but wouldn't comment on when it might be completed. More frustrating stillis what is happening in 2022. While finding the overall vote tallies largely matched up, the report highlighted a series of alleged problems, including 10,342 potential voters who voted in different counties, which Cyber Ninjas termed a "critical finding.". The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors,. "Attorney General Brnovich has released a letter to Senator Fann (click below for full text), declaring that there WAS Election Fraud in the 2020 election,"wrote Zipperman, one of three Republicans hoping to replace Sen. Karen Fann. This, too, confirmed that Democrat Mark Kelly handily defeated incumbent Republican Martha McSally. He won the state by more than 10,000 votes, or 0.31 percent. It wont be as smooth for the report by Ayyadurai, whom Fann added to the audit team midway through the process to examine signatures on the envelopes of the approximately 1.9 million early ballots. At a hearing this month, Arizona senate president Karen Fann said shes been contacted by legislators in other states who told her that this is whats going to lay the groundwork as to what is the future of how we audit our elections.. To date, the Maricopa County Board of. . Their report said that the computers and ballot-counting machines in the countys ballot tabulation center were never connected to the internet. For Star subscribers: The Senate and contractor Cyber Ninjas have failed to comply with judge's orders that they produce public records about the election audit, court is told. In many instances, the county said the audit team made glaring mistakes because it didn't understand election policies and procedures. "This was Donald Trump's best chance to prove his cases of elections being rigged and fraudulent and they failed," Ginsberg said on a media call organized by the States United Democracy Center, a nonpartisan policy group. PHOENIX, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden in Arizona's most populous county, a review of results by his allies in the Republican Party has reaffirmed, capping a widely panned effort spurred by Trump's false claims of voter fraud. This boondoggle not only fails to meet the standards weve set in place to make audits and recounts a valuable tool for cultivating confidence in our elections but also subverts them to the opposite result. ASROCK B550M HDV BIOS UPDATE TUTORIAL TO THE LATEST VERSION 2023; Motorola Edge 20 Fusion FRP Bypass/Unlock Google Account Lock; Taylor Lorenz, Critics HYSTERICAL about Lung Covid Psychosomatic; Honor 9x ( STK-LX1 ) Frp Bypass By Unlock Tool 2023 Audit draft report confirms Biden got more Arizona votes than Trump Howard Fischer Capitol Media Services Sep 23, 2021 Updated Nov 8, 2022 Maricopa County ballots cast in the 2020 general. Review reports of audit work performed by the Internal Audit department over the 3 most recent fiscal years. 2023 www.azcentral.com. He claimed there are serious vulnerabilities in Arizonas electoralsystem, but he couldnt point to a single instance of a phony vote as a result. "This means the tabulation equipment counted the ballots as they were designed to do, and the results reflect the will of the voters,'' he said. They wasted nearly $6 million to tell us what we already knew, meanwhile exacerbating an already unhealthy political environment, state Sen. Paul Boyer (R), an audit opponent, told The Hill in a text message. Cobb, the 18-year election-audit veteran, said he was particularly concerned by the lack of a clear and enforced chain of custody, which ensures ballots and equipment are always accounted for. They will not lead to actual facts and scrutiny., Perhaps all this could be discounted as just an unusual Republican indulgence in a single county in Arizona except that whats happening in Maricopa County is already inspiring Republicans in other states to follow suit. You have permission to edit this article. Its not a poke in the eye thing. What eye color is the rarest in the world? Election Readiness Update Memo (PDF) 07/17/20: County Contract Audit - Axon Products and Services (PDF) . 2910 N. 44th St., Ste. I understand why people are frustrated.. Official finding or not, Jack Sellers, who chairs the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, seized on the report to say that it exonerates the county's handling of the election. Leaders in Maricopa County, Ariz., are hitting back at Donald J. Trump and fellow party members in the State Senate over a review of the county's ballots. You can also use this link to manage your existing subscriptions. Fann said she had not yet read the report and had no immediate comment. 2023 ABC News Internet Ventures. Do You Buy That Young Voters Handed Democrats Wins In Close Races. Maricopa County reported that Biden got 45,109 more votes than Trump. Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. 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