2021 Maricopa County presidential ballot audit

[2][3][4] In June 2021, Maggie Haberman of The New York Times and Charles Cooke of National Review reported that Trump had told associates that based on the results of the audit, he would be reinstated as president in August 2021.

[7][8] Conspiracy theory issues also arose as many commentators across the political spectrum characterized the effort as a sham or "fraudit" that was an element of the false claim that the presidential election had been stolen from Trump.

She also asked the official to contact Trump attorney Sidney Powell, adding, "I know you don't want to be remembered as the guy who led the charge to certify a fraudulent election.

[25][26][27] On February 23, 2021, Maricopa County announced that forensic audits of their vote tabulation equipment by two independent auditors accredited by the federal Election Assistance Commission had found no irregularities.

[1] The hand recount was managed by Wake Technology Services, which reportedly had been hired for a previous audit in a rural Pennsylvania county by Trump attorney Sidney Powell, who has promoted numerous conspiracy theories about the election.

[39][40] One America News Network (OANN) personalities also created a dark money organization to raise funds, while providing extensive coverage of the audit that drew praise from Trump.

[41] Senator Wendy Rogers, who supported the claims that Trump had won the election in Arizona as well as nationally, extensively promoted the audit on social media.

[49] Her letter cited the audit's disclosed procedures (departures from and ignorance of best practices for hand recounts) and the reports of the observers sent from the Secretary of State's office (including sloppy handling of ballots).

Republican board chairman Jack Sellers stated that the allegations were actually due to the incompetence of the auditors and accused Fann of an "attempt at legitimatizing a grift disguised as an audit.

[63][better source needed] Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward released multiple videos about the audit, in which she criticized the Board of Supervisors and raised "the possibility of placing the validity of the entire 2020 election into question.

[67][68] In late June 2021, the Monmouth University Polling Institute reported that a majority of Americans viewed this and similar audits as "partisan efforts to undermine valid election results".

[71] On July 14, two House Democrats, Carolyn Maloney and Jamie Raskin, opened an investigation into Cyber Ninjas, sending a letter to Logan requesting documents and records of any communications between the company and Trump or his allies, as well as information on who was funding the audit.

[77] County officials and election experts said Cyber Ninjas had misinterpreted data files when examining mail-in ballot figures, leading to an incorrect conclusion.

[30] Logan acknowledged the matter required further analysis, though election experts said bleed-through does not affect the vote count because of printing alignment issues, and a bipartisan process had been in place to flag and examine unreadable ballots.

[83][30] Logan also claimed to have an affidavit asserting that signature verification standards had been progressively relaxed during the election until "they were just told to let every single mail-in ballot through," which Republican county recorder Stephen Richer strongly denied.

[83][79][30] On July 16, the auditors claimed they did not have enough information to complete their report, and requested that the Arizona Senate subpoena further records and survey tens of thousands voters at their residences.

A spokesman for Arizona Republican attorney general Mark Brnovich had said in April that 21 active investigations were underway, though he did not indicate how many related to the November 2020 election.

[87][88] In late July, Bennett confirmed that he was being shut out of the auditors' second ballot count because he questioned the lack of transparency in the processes being used, which he characterized as "hide-the-ball-from-me stuff".

[89][90][91][92] Trump chief spokesperson Liz Harrington often tweeted about the audit and, on July 26, she appeared on Special Report with Bret Baier on Fox News to falsely assert that Logan's analysis meant there were 275,000 "potential fraudulent ballots.

[95] The results of the examination, led by former Arizona Republican congressman John Shadegg, were released in March 2022, finding that the county's ballot tabulation system was never connected to the internet or any external devices.

[2] Cyber Ninjas released a summary of its major donors on July 28, indicating $5.7 million was raised from five groups associated with individuals who had cast doubt on the presidential election, including Byrne, Flynn, and Powell, as well as OANN personalities Chanel Rion and Christina Bobb.

[100] On August 25, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge John Hannah ordered Cyber Ninjas to preserve all records of their audit for later public release.

[105][106] Congressman Gosar's top attorney staffer Tom Van Flien, among others associated with the Cyber Ninjas, had deployed to Sky Harbor airport shortly following the election and attempted to stop a South Korean plane believing it to be stuffed with counterfeit ballots.

[109][110] Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican who oversees elections, tweeted that Trump's post was "unhinged", noting he was looking at the database on his computer at that moment.

Some of the false claims originated with outspoken Trump supporter Mike Lindell, fake news website The Gateway Pundit and an Arizona real estate broker.

[124] The audit's report found that the auditors' ballot recount increased Biden's margin of victory by 360 votes compared to the official count.

"[140] On October 8, the county Elections Department and Recorder's office released a preliminary "top line" analysis of the auditor's report, finding it repeatedly made faulty claims.

[146] In November, Vice quoted Nick Moseder, who spread election disinformation on social media, saying Logan told him he was $2.1 million in debt due to the audit.

"[148] In January 2022, Cyber Ninjas announced it was shutting down, as a Maricopa County judge imposed a $50,000 contempt fine on the company for every day it refused to hand over documents as it had been ordered to do months earlier.

Because Cyber Ninjas was insolvent and facing dissolution, a Superior Court judge agreed the sanctions were toothless and ruled that Logan and his wife could be held personally responsible for relinquishing the records.