The Arizona Senate-ordered recount of Maricopa County's 2.1 million election ballots began on April 23, nearly six months after voters elected Joe Biden as president and he was declared the winner of Arizona, a traditionally red state.
Why is Arizona auditing November election results in April? Basically, Republican state senators still have questions about the validity of the general election results in Maricopa County.
Multiple lawsuits from the Trump campaign, the Arizona Republican Party and others claiming widespread fraud have been dismissed, and audits of Maricopa County results showed that votes were counted accurately and machines weren't tampered with. But Republicans state senators have continued to insist, without evidence, that there was systemic voter fraud in the last election. After a contentious legal battle, they're now conducting their own hand count of Maricopa County's 2.1 million ballots, an analysis of voter information and an audit of the county's voting machines.
Technology company Cyber Ninjas was hired to oversee the audit as part of a $150,000 taxpayer-funded contract. The company's CEO Doug Logan has publicly promoted unfounded election fraud claims and been involved in efforts to overturn election results in other states.
Concerns have been raised about voter privacy as the auditors have both public and private data about all voters in the 2020 election. There are also concerns about oversight and transparency after Cyber Ninjas asked the courts to keep its recount procedures secret. Reporters now have limited access to the audit, but originally were not allowed in unless we signed up for shifts as volunteer observers. I'm Jen Fifield, a reporter for the Arizona Republic covering Phoenix and Maricopa County. Before reporters were allowed into the audit, I signed up to be a volunteer observer for the first six-hour shift of the hand count and live-tweeted my experience. I'm Andrew Oxford, a reporter with The Arizona Republic covering Arizona state politics. We've been covering the audit extensively and answering readers' questions as we go. Ask us anything.
Proof: https://i.redd.it/g0uxn1jz1ey61.jpg https://i.redd.it/1jvsc1b22ey61.jpg
Edit: That's all the time we have for today! Thank you all for your thoughtful questions and discussion. If we didn't get to your questions, we will be checking back throughout the week to answer as many as possible. In the meantime, you can read our last coverage of the Senate audit here: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2021/05/11/experts-say-giving-maricopa-county-routers-arizona-senates-election-auditors-bad-precedent/4995728001/
You can also follow us on Twitter for updates at @JenAFifield and @andrewboxford.
