An election audit prompted by the Republican-controlled Arizona state Senate appears to confirm President Biden won Maricopa County, Ariz., in the 2020 presidential election, several news outlets reported.
An official report by Cyber Ninjas, the contractor who was hired for the audit, is slated to be given to the state Senate at 1 p.m. on Friday, though several news outlets obtained versions of the draft.
The Arizona Republic reported that versions of the draft it obtained showed that the hand count by Cyber Ninjas actually shows former President Trump losing the largest Arizona county by a slightly wider margin than the certified count. The certified vote count by Maricopa County found that Trump lost by 45,109 votes, while the Cyber Ninjas audit found Biden won by 45,469 votes.
A copy of the document that Maricopa County had been given was provided to the Republic by Tom Liddy, litigation bureau chief of Maricopa County. Unfortunately, because Maricopa County did not receive it from the state Senate, he could not verify if it was from Cyber Ninjas. Still, an elections consultant who had a copy of the report verified that the document indicated the same findings the consultant had.
According to the Republic’s draft report, the results could change once the final report has been presented to the Arizona legislature.
In a statement issued through the Maricopa County Twitter page, Maricopa County Board Chairman Jack Sellers said of the draft Senate audit report, “This means the tabulation equipment counted the ballots as they were designed to do, and the results reflect the will of the voters. That should be the end of the story. Everything else is just noise.”
Chairman @jacksellers on #azaudit draft: “This means the tabulation equipment counted the ballots as they were designed to do, and the results reflect the will of the voters. That should be the end of the story. Everything else is just noise.” Full statement below: pic.twitter.com/Rmi824fLwE
— Maricopa County (@maricopacounty) September 24, 2021
Maricopa County also criticized some of the conclusions from Cyber Ninjas’ report, saying in a tweet, “Unfortunately, the report is also littered with errors & faulty conclusions about how Maricopa County conducted the 2020 General Election.”
Unfortunately, the report is also littered with errors & faulty conclusions about how Maricopa County conducted the 2020 General Election.
— Maricopa County (@maricopacounty) September 24, 2021
If the results hold, it will deal a significant blow to a number of Republicans and Trump, who have alleged that there was widespread fraud that occurred during the 2020 presidential election.
The Hill has reached out to Cyber Ninjas for comment.
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