In normal times, a post-election audit would take place after an election. Republican, Democratic, and Libertarian parties would get together to initiate a routine but important process to safeguard our democracy: a post election audit. In Arizona this is a hand count of ballots from a random sample. In Maricopa County, the hand count was started Saturday after the election and wrapped up two days late. No discrepancies were found.
So what's going on six months later in Maricopa County? Cyber Ninjas, a private cybersecurity company with no experience auditing or counting votes, at the behest of the state's Republican senators, is recounting the votes again. They have looked at ballots through UV lights, looking for secret watermarks and they have looked for traces of bamboo in the paper to determine if they were imported from Asia.
Audits are recounts are an essential part of our voting system, but what's happening in Arizona isn't. The state senate called it an audit, but it's not an audit or a recount- it's a party inquisition. The "audit" is being conducted by a company (Cyber Ninjas) founded by an election-fraud conspiracy theorist and Trump supporter, and funded by mostly Trump loyalists, including the "My Pillow" guy.
The process indulges the fantasies of the most extreme political fringe while ignoring the fact that there is zero evidence of any election fraud. The result will almost certainly not be the greater transparency Republican state senators claim they seek. It will simply further erode trust in our elections.
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