Arizona GOP prepares another audit of 2020 election in state's largest county
WASHINGTON (SBG) – Arizona was a state President Joe Biden wasn’t sure he’d win in the 2020 election.
But in the end, Arizona voters chose him over former President Donald Trump by over 10,000 votes, a result determined by two independent audits in Maricopa County – the largest county in the state.
Another audit is set to begin this week at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum to once again count the 2.1 million ballots and search for discrepancies.
Arizona Senate Republicans say it will be live-streamed and supporters of the effort hope the outcome will bring more clarity.
“The most useful outcome that could happen from this audit or any others is that if problems are found we find out what they are, why they happened and how we prevent them from happening again in the future," said Zack Smith, a legal fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation.
But five months after the election, critics continue to warn the effort is highly partisan and a threat to democracy.
"So really this audit only seems to serve to stoke the spires of conspiracy and partisan gamesmanship to be quite honest," said C. Jay Coles, with Verified Voting, one of the four national voting rights groups to voice concern, particularly about the Florida-based firm Cyber Ninjas that was hired to lead the recount.
Multiple reports detailed instances in which the CEO of the company promoted election conspiracy theories on a now-deleted twitter account.
Another group that signed the letter was the Carter Center.
"There continues to be narratives about election fraud even though multiple states have undergone audit processes that completely refute the claims," said Avery Davis-Roberts, Associate Director of the Democracy program at the Carter Center.
At the same time, Arizona is also working to pass new statewide voting legislation, as some Republicans are holding out hope that this week's audit may bring them a new round of results.
