23, 2021: The Associated Press, relying on a series of tweets from Maricopa County, some of which were added to this commentary on Saturday, argued that the gap between the number of mail-in ballots mailed out and the number received was neither unexpected nor unusual. Still, the state uses the signatures as a way to confirm the voters identity, since mail-in voters arent present at a voting location to show their ID, as is required for people who vote at the polls. (@kelliwardaz) July 15, 2021. Cyber Ninjas, the firm that was contracted by Arizona Republicans to carry out a widely-criticized review of 2.1m ballots cast in the presidential election, is shutting They ripped everything they possibly could about the audit, Biggs said of the county leaders. This means that over one-third of the vote was stolen by Democratic Party operatives.. The GOP-led Senate ordered the audit after Trump backers claimed without evidence that fraud led to his loss in Arizona and other battleground states. The veteran was not registered to vote and had been given documents showing as much before the 2022 election. But it's being carefully watched by Trump and some of his most ardent supporters who believe it will finally turn up evidence to support fraud claims.

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Gates and board Chairman Jack Sellers have been pushing back all year against fellow Republicans in the Arizona Senate who issued subpoenas and fought court battles to allow contractors they hired to review the certified election results. The claims these contractors advanced in yesterdays briefing to senators enabling & enriching them were not based in fact. I call on Arizona to decertify the election of 2020 and recall the electors, he said, though there appears to be no legal precedent for that. "Truth is truth, numbers are numbers," Fann said at a Senate hearing on the review, which found only small variations, yielding 99 additional votes for Biden and 261 fewer votes for Trump. WATCH: House Oversight Committee reviews Arizona's election Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. Here's the unvarnished truth. "While it is possible for multiple individuals to share all these details, it is not common, and this list should be fully reviewed,'' it says. UPDATE And before a final report on Arizona Republicans' election review is even made public, Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich says he will investigate Arizona Vote Review Is Political Theater and Sham, G.O.P. The findings in Pima County provide yet another official rebuttal of former President Donald Trumps claims that voter fraud led to his loss in Arizona and other battleground states. The latest Arizona headlines, national news events of the day + sports and weather updates. That leaves a private canvass conducted by Liz Harris, an unsuccessful legislative candidate.

Fann said the state Senate was working on legislation to achieve an "unimpeachable electoral process", based on alleged issues found in the review. Get the Votebeat Arizona newsletter in your inbox. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Example video title will go here for this video. The release came after a judge ruled that lead contractor Cyber Ninjas couldnt keep the documents secret. Richer also added another step to the review process, which he calls an audit queue. If the first-level reviewer accepts the signature, it no longer is accepted outright. 74,000 Ballots Returned with No Record of Ever Being Sent: Shocking AZ Audit Update. But he again re-emphasized that signature verification is just the last step in confirming a voters identity, not the only step. The audit itself, ordered by the Republican-controlled state Senate, has also been criticized by elected leaders and the Arizona Secretary of State, who says it will have no bearing on the official results. American Oversight filed the lawsuit last year to get access to about 1,000 records sent between Republican Senate President Karen Fann and Cyber Ninjas, the Florida-based group that conducted the audit. Culture, Faith, Politics, Education, Entertainment. Also weighing in was former Congressman Matt Salmon, who is hoping to become the Republican nominee for governor.

Richer also tried not to put pressure on workers to move quickly, he said. The initial reviewer now has three signatures on file to compare with the voter signature on the envelope, instead of one. The Senate is asking a judge to delay any move to force it to immediately surrender certain election audit documents. The ballot examination procedures were outlined by Wake TSI, the former ballot-recount contractor, in documents released at the end of April.

"I think too much emphasis has been put on the tasks that are happening here at the Coliseum, but these are not the only two tasks of the audit," Bennett said. Ben Ginsberg, a longtime Republican election lawyer who represented Republican George W. Bush when he prevailed over Democrat Al Gore in a 2000 electoral dispute, called the review's conclusions a "huge defeat" for Trump. So far this year, at least 18 Republican-led states have passed legislation curbing ballot access, moves they say are needed to ensure election integrity. Misinformation site Gateway Pundit dominates coverage of Maricopa County's election audit; grabs over five percent of all social media engagement on news articles. A long-anticipated presentation on the audits findings is set for 1 p.m. in the state Senate chambers. These changes may be what led the county to reject so many more ballots for bad or missing signatures in 2022. Democratic leaders said they were worried Republicans would use the review as a pretext to enact laws suppressing the vote. More than 20 became law. Or are they purposefully withholding information because they dont want us to know what the real answer is? Joe Biden was the first Democratic presidential nominee in 72 years to win Maricopa County, which accounts for more than 6 in every 10 votes in Arizona. If youre wondering why Maricopa County responded to a claim that wasnt made rather than the claim that was, well, youre not alone.

Fann has said the audit is not meant to overturn the 2020 election but rather to see whether laws need improvement and instill confidence in elections. The results of the audit have not yet been released as of this articles publication. Dig deeper into how your vote gets counted in our free newsletter. For Trump supporters, the partisan Arizona audit has become a rallying cry nationwide as the first domino that could fall in a far-fetched scheme to return Trump to office. Maricopa County election results have already been certified on multiple occasions by hand-count and forensic audits, and several lawsuits undermining the results have not succeeded in changing the outcome in Arizona. As indicated in the March 29, 2023 CFO meeting the Fiscal Year 2022 Single Audit will not be submitted by the deadline of March 31, 2023 and there is no estimated submittal date at this time. The money raised by pro-Trump groups overshadows the $150,000 in taxpayer money the Arizona Senate spent approving the audit and hiring Cyber Ninjas. They arent given a quota. The report also comes despite a series of rulings by state and federal judges who refused to overturn the election results, saying they found no credible evidence of improprieties; as well as a state-mandated hand count of a sample number of ballots that Maricopa County conducted, which showed no disparities. But Bennett said other audit work is ongoing, including the evaluation of data from election servers and voting machines. Please contact Amanda Compton at[emailprotected] or[emailprotected] with any questions or concerns. County officials and outside election experts have panned the findings, saying most if not all are based on the Senate contractors flawed and amateur audit and easily debunked. It doesnt say much more about the method that workers must use to confirm the signature is valid. Significantly, the information the judge said should be released to the public includes who is financing the audit. 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. Court rejects another request to keep Arizona audit public records private; Tune in to FOX 10 Phoenix for the latest news. Bennett said the ballot examination should be done by the end of June. Also, Cyber Ninjas is fighting a court order that it surrender audit-related documents under the states public records law. But she cited only two concrete examples, and both were quickly disproved. From #FOIA shows logs dont match!. Republican Arizona state senators shared the findings of the Maricopa County presidential election audit during a hearing Thursday. Nonpartisan local reporting on elections and voting. Adjectives like "bizarre" and "disgusting" get thrown around online. Steven Hirsch - Pool / AFP / Getty Images, Ron Jenkins / Getty Images; Shannon Finney / Getty Images.

A judge on Tuesday rejected a state Senate claim that some of its records about the 2020 election audit are not subject to public disclosure. The EV33 file includes returned early ballots up to the Monday before Election Day. I dont know.. Lakes claim, which the Arizona Supreme Court remanded to the trial court last week, is the losing GOP gubernatorial candidates last chance to prove her election should be overturned. Circuit Court of Appeals to revive their lawsuit. The number of bad signatures rejected more than doubled, from 587 to 1800. With all the hoopla made about it and not wanting to muddy the waters, we removed that, Richer said. It should be noted that the tweets dont actually respond to the claim made by the auditors, who did not claim that 74,000 more ballots were received than were sent. Subscribe to stay connected to Tucson. Records related to the election review by Cyber Ninjas the firm Senate Republicans hired are public, the court held in rejecting lawmakers, State Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita says the threat against her has been turned over to law enforcement. Skeptics of the whole process, meanwhile, are already seeking to cast doubt on whatever the report shows. All Rights Reserved. Resources. 17, 2021: After this commentary was published, Maricopa The county blasted the 2020 election "audit" as "this adventure in never-never land.". Knowing this process would be harshly scrutinized as it was after 2020 Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, also a Republican, tried to improve it in the period leading up to the midterms in ways that havent been previously reported. There are ~ 74,000 ballots that came back but there is no indication that they were ever sent out by the county! News, Politics, Culture, and more in realtime. Several lawsuits filed against the results and counting process of the 2020 presidential election in Arizona have failed to overturn Bidens win in Arizona ( here , here ). In April, the state Senate ordered an audit of about 2.1 million ballots cast in Maricopa County, where about 62 percent of Arizona's population resides ( here , here ). Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Leaders Say. Arizona election audit updates: 'At least 2 weeks' until Cyber Ninjas deliver final report: 09/02/21: 2: Arizona audit explodes this week 09/12/21: 3: The audits are going to clear out all of the evil doer's 05/13/21: 4: Trump secretly donated $1m to discredited Arizona election audit 01/28/23: 5 You have permission to edit this article. Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who lost to Gov. Read our editorial standards. The "gender wage gap" is a complete and utter lie manufactured by the American left. Overall, workers marked 18,510 signatures as non-matching, and of those, 15,411 voters confirmed it was their ballot, or cured their ballot. Bennett is reserving comment on whether any of those shortcomings were intentional, however. Were not saying that there is any intentional fraud what theyre saying is that the numbers are not adding up. Attorney General Mark Brnovich largely reiterated concerns raised by a widely panned election review conducted last year by supporters of former President Donald Trump on behalf of state Senate Republicans. Join us for this special update, report, and commentary on the Arizona Audit. This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team.

But not very likely.. Both times, additional workers helped out when they had time. That was false, as all signatures were ultimately verified by humans. More signatures and an added an audit step. To try to improve training, Richer this year required all managers to go to a four-hour training hosted by the state led by a private company, Associated Forensic Laboratory, that specializes in forensic training. The results of the Maricopa County audit have not yet been released as of July 2, this articles publication. , "It is hard to imagine more serious litigation than the disclosure of documents underlying an audit of the election of the president of the Un. He now manages the writing and reporting teams, overseeing the production of commentary, news and original reporting content. 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One post claims the results were received from the Maricopa County Sheriffs Office Facebook page (www.facebook.com/MCSOaz/),. Dig deeper into how your vote gets counted in our free newsletter.. A Maricopa County judge may soon allow Kari Lake to attempt to prove one of the most far-fetched claims she made in her lawsuit challenging her November loss (May 10). The panel focused on Trumps efforts to undo Joe Bidens victory in a most local way by leaning on officials in key battleground states to reject ballots outright or to submit alternative electors for the final tally in Congress. But, theres no way it can be a 27-point check, Pullen said. Maricopa County has always had a multi-tier process for approving signatures. He did not respond to questions about where the ballots will go and whether they will be returned to the county. Fifteen hand-count audits, including three in Maricopa County, were conducted for the 2020 General Election in Arizona (here), all of which found either no discrepancies or discrepancies within the acceptable margin. Maricopa County also conducted a forensic audit of ballot counting for the 2020 elections (here) where the election equipment and software passed tests performed by two independent firms (here). A Maricopa County judge may soon allow Kari Lake to attempt to prove one of the most far-fetched claims she made in her lawsuit challenging her November loss against Gov. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. Screen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. One of the leaders of the partisan audit revealed in early May that examiners were looking for bamboo in the ballot paper, in connection with a conspiracy theory involving ballot paper shipped to Arizona from Asia. An election audit in Maricopa County, Arizona, began on April 23. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, which administers elections for the majority of Arizona voters, called the ongoing audit of the countys votes in the 2020 Fox Producer Reveals What Trump Did to DA Bragg Inside Manhattan Courtroom, 'Curious Omission' Noted in Indictment of Donald Trump: 'What Kind of a Clown Joker Wrote This Thing? Late State of Arizona Fiscal Year 2022 Single Audit Communication As indicated in the March 29, 2023 CFO meeting the Fiscal Year 2022 Single Audit will not be submitted by the deadline of March 31, 2023 and there is Bennett said the paper evaluation involves a review of the ballot paper for irregular folds, signs that a machine filled out the ballot, or differences between ballots sent by mail and those filled out in-person at a Vote Center. Here The Arizona Republic catches you up on the ongoing state Senate-ordered audit of Maricopa County's presidential and U.S. Senate race results in America's Audit Update 7-30-2021. The Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. No election can be conducted perfectly because its conducted by fallible human beings, he said. Now, its possible that that scribble thats in that box is exactly the signature that the person put in as well, Pullen said. The technology, called Verus Pro, is offered by Runbeck Election Services, which processes mail-in ballots for the county. Richer said he is confident that Lakes claim will be dismissed, as have more than 20 other lawsuits regarding the 2020 and 2022 elections. "Thank you to all the amazing Arizona volunteers who made this audit possible!".
[1/6]People gather outside Arizona Government building ahead of the announcement of interim findings from a widely criticized audit of the 2020 election in Phoenix, Arizona, September 24, 2021. arizona audit updates The county rejected 3,099 ballots for bad or no signatures in 2022, or .24%, compared to .11% in 2020 and .18% in 2018, according to county data. The original Biden vote total was 1,672,143.

Republican committee members, meanwhile, worked to show the review conducted for the GOP-controlled Arizona Senate found significant issues with how the election in the county that includes Phoenix was conducted and said it should be common practice to conduct full election audits. The news comes as Republican politicians, some angling for higher office, were already declaring that the yet-to-be-seen final report found evidence of fraud. Other workers are also trained, according to elections staff.