(Yahoo News) The contractors tasked to audit the 2020 Maricopa County general election are poised to present their findings to the Arizona Senate on Friday, with an offered preview on Wednesday.
Lead Contractor and Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan, CyFIR founder Ben Cotton, and others tasked with the state Senate-commissioned operation will show the results of the review to Senate President Karen Fann and Judiciary Chairman Warren Peterson at 1 p.m. local time Friday, according to a press release.
The much-anticipated results from the audit come after multiple delays and nearly five months since the audit began at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where volunteers recounted nearly 2.1 million ballots in the county that President Joe Biden won, along with other procedures. The presentation will be livestreamed online and will not include public comment or questions.
The Senate liaison for the GOP-led audit, former Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett, told Real America’s Voice on Wednesday that leadership is “vetting” the report ahead of the presentation. He added, “We’re not withholding anything,” quashing any rumors the Senate would attempt to block certain aspects of the report from the public’s view.
Ken Bennett Provides a Table of Contents for the AZ Audit Report Presentation on Friday
Senate audit liaison Ken Bennett joined John Fredericks to offer a breakdown of Friday’s audit report reveal. #AzAuditReleasepic.twitter.com/j4nhz8yKlz— Silent Majority (@PatrioticCougar) September 22, 2021
Bennett said “an individual” would present on the “ballot signature envelopes” on mail-in ballots cast in the county. He also said Senate audit spokesperson Randy Pullen would present on the third ballot recount conducted during the audit process. Bennett will offer a brief report about criteria “Maricopa County failed to meet and comply with state statutes and procedures,” he said.
Fann has said the audit, criticized by Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and the mostly-Republican Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, is about restoring confidence in the local election system, as former President Donald Trump and his allies have alleged widespread fraud in Arizona and other key battleground states following the 2020 election.
The audit has drawn much controversy, with critics pointing out that Logan has no prior experience auditing elections, among other accusations of bizarre and unreliable auditing procedures.
Biden won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes out of more than 3.3 million across the state. His lead of roughly 2 percentage points was due partly to his advantage in Maricopa County, where the Democrat scored nearly 45,000 more votes than Trump.
Federal officials, as well as state and local, have insisted there is no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. Still, Trump and his allies have claimed the election was stolen and have pushed for copy-cat audits in other states such as Pennsylvania and Georgia.
Maricopa County officials, who largely opposed the Arizona Senate’s audit in court until a judge ruled its subpoenas were “legal and enforceable,” previously authorized two election machine audits that found no irregularities in the county’s 2020 election. There was also a recount of a sample of ballots that did not turn up any problems.
In a 4-1 vote on Sept. 17, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors said it would establish a “special master” to take questions from contractors who are part of the firms Cyber Ninjas and CyFir. This would provide them with information on the county’s routers that the contractors said they needed to finish a comprehensive forensic audit report.
The county’s decision on Friday came after Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich threatened to withhold funding to the county if they did not agree to comply with subpoenas filed by the state Senate.
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