{"id":202234,"date":"2021-06-13T17:40:16","date_gmt":"2021-06-13T17:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=ef12bd9eef058631aff02a9b273e1ec0"},"modified":"2021-06-13T17:40:16","modified_gmt":"2021-06-13T17:40:16","slug":"seasoned-auditors-challenge-arizona-senate-to-let-them-confirm-2020-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/06\/13\/seasoned-auditors-challenge-arizona-senate-to-let-them-confirm-2020-results\/","title":{"rendered":"Seasoned Auditors Challenge Arizona Senate to Let Them Confirm 2020 Results"},"content":{"rendered":"<a href=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/articles\/seasoned-auditors-challenge-arizona-senate-to-let-them-confirm-2020-results\/\"><img width=\"200\" height=\"133\" src=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1232636768-200x133.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Contractors working for Cyber Ninjas, which was hired by the Arizona State Senate, examine and recount ballots from the 2020 general election at Veterans Memorial Coliseum on May 1, 2021, in Phoenix, Arizona.\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1232636768-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1232636768-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1232636768-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1232636768-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1232636768-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1232636768-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1232636768-2400x1600.jpg 2400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><div class=\"site-main page-content col-sm-12 publisher_portal_detail_container\" role=\"main\">\n<aside class=\"introtext\">This article was produced by <a href=\"https:\/\/votingbooth.media\/\">Voting Booth<\/a>, a <a href=\"https:\/\/independentmediainstitute.org\/voting-booth\/\">project<\/a> of the Independent Media Institute.<a href=\"https:\/\/independentmediainstitute.org\/imi-articles\/?tag=Voting+Rights\" class=\"\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<div>\n<p>A team of seasoned election auditors has challenged the Republicans leading the Arizona Senate\u2019s inquiries into the accuracy of 2020\u2019s presidential election results to a demonstration where the auditors say that they will conclusively show that Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in Arizona\u2019s most populous county.<\/p>\n<p>The challenge, led by a longtime Republican Party election observer and two technologists familiar with voting systems and vote-counting data, would present the results of every race in any randomly chosen batch of ballots, as generated by Maricopa County\u2019s 2020 election data. Those paper ballots would be hand-counted and compared to the electronic totals to attest to the election\u2019s results. These paper and digital records are the building blocks of the county\u2019s voting system.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe now have the capability to determine the ballot count and vote results for all of the elections on any batch and any box of ballots that were delivered to the [Senate\u2019s contractor, Florida-based <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberninjas.com\/\">Cyber] Ninjas<\/a> under the [Senate\u2019s] subpoena, without ever looking at a single ballot,\u201d Tucson\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/benny.white.969\">Benny White<\/a>, a longtime election observer for the Arizona and Pima County Republican Parties, wrote on June 8 in a letter to Arizona Senate President Karen Fann and the audit liaison and former Secretary of State Ken Bennett. Fann and Bennett are Republicans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur proposal will be for the Ninjas to select any unopened box of ballots, provide us with the box number from the label on the outside of the [storage] box and we will produce the results from the public record,\u201d White said. \u201cThe Ninjas could then count all of the votes on all of the races on all of the ballots in that box, then we could compare the results.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The auditors are seeking to confront and upstage the Senate\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azcentral.com\/story\/news\/politics\/elections\/2021\/03\/31\/cyber-ninjas-founder-doug-logan-pushed-election-fraud-theories\/4825258001\/\">pro-Trump contractors<\/a> whose hand count and related examinations of 2.1 million paper ballots in Phoenix\u2019s Veterans Memorial Coliseum may wrap up by mid-June. The contractors have not yet issued any report or preliminary findings as of June 9, although there is an expectation in pro-Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/VoteLizHarris2020\">circles<\/a> that their findings will cast doubt on the election\u2019s outcome. Pro-Trump lawmakers, candidates and activists have been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azcentral.com\/story\/news\/politics\/arizona\/2021\/05\/13\/arizona-election-audit-whats-happening-today-inside-coliseum\/5068227001\/\">visiting<\/a> the arena.<\/p>\n<p>The Senate\u2019s investigations, nonetheless, have been widely criticized as <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/wireStory\/experts-grifters-firm-runs-arizona-audit-77858708\">partisan and amateurish<\/a> by experts in election administration and policy circles. But its defenders, including Bennett, have said that most Arizona Republicans wanted to see more evidence than the state\u2019s official post-election audits have provided.<\/p>\n<p>Bennett did not immediately respond to a request seeking a comment on the auditing team\u2019s challenge.<\/p>\n<p>In late May, the same team of independent auditors \u2014 comprised of White, who has been a Republican Party election observer for years and served on Arizona\u2019s Elections Procedures Manual Revision Committee; Larry Moore, the retired founder and CEO of <a href=\"https:\/\/clearballot.com\/\">Clear Ballot<\/a>, a federally <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eac.gov\/voting-equipment\/certified-voting-systems\">certified<\/a> audit firm; and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.topionetworks.com\/people\/tim-halvorsen-596b53aa78e00277587c704b\">Tim Halvorsen<\/a>, the retired chief technology officer of Clear Ballot \u2014 reported that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalmemo.com\/arizona-forensic-audit-2653074322\">their initial analysis<\/a> of Maricopa\u2019s 2020 election data <a href=\"https:\/\/independentmediainstitute.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Larry-Moore-Analysis.png\">found<\/a> about 60,000 ballots with votes for a majority of the Republican candidates but <i>not for<\/i> Trump. They also found about 40,000 ballots with most votes for Democrats and <i>for<\/i> Trump.<\/p>\n<p>Their findings suggested that suburban Republicans rejected Trump, which helped to elect Biden. In Maricopa County, home to Phoenix and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maricopa.gov\/5539\/Voting-Equipment-Facts\">60 percent<\/a> of Arizona\u2019s 2020 electorate, Biden beat Donald Trump by <a href=\"https:\/\/recorder.maricopa.gov\/electionarchives\/2020\/11-03-2020-1%20Final%20Official%20Summary%20Report%20NOV2020.pdf\">45,109<\/a> votes. Statewide in Arizona, Biden won by <a href=\"https:\/\/billmoyers.com\/story\/arizona-gop-may-force-a-count-of-millions-of-2020-presidential-ballots\/\">10,457 votes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The auditors\u2019 efforts stand out because apart from state and local election officials defending the accuracy of Arizona\u2019s 2020 election results \u2014 and Senate contractors investigating the same election \u2014 it appears that nobody else with election auditing experience has obtained the official vote count records from Maricopa County and investigated and sought to publicly verify Biden\u2019s state-certified victory.<\/p>\n<p>White told Voting Booth that he has been deeply troubled by Trump\u2019s and his allies\u2019 attacks on election officials, voting technology, and the rules of voting, all of which have undermined public confidence in elections.<\/p>\n<p>At first glance, their challenge may appear to be an attempt at election theatrics that seeks to blunt another spectacle \u2014 the nearly two-month-long inquiries inside Phoenix\u2019s old pro-basketball arena. But the challenge is brought by critics who say that they have accomplished what the Senate\u2019s inexperienced contractors have so far failed to do, which is use official election records to confirm that the county\u2019s electronic tally matched its paper ballots. The contractors have been struggling with the official vote count data, well-placed insiders have told Voting Booth.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, despite <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalmemo.com\/arizona-audit--2653017048#:~:text=said%20to%20cost%20more%20than%20%243%20million\">millions<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2021\/may\/14\/arizona-election-audit-recount-ballots-maricopa-county\">spent<\/a> on high-definition cameras and microscopes for scanning ballots and other equipment in the Phoenix arena, which has created <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/government-and-politics-election-recounts-senate-elections-sports-2046da82c97a405e8273fd3531799f8d\">made-for-TV<\/a> optics that have been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/mkt_app\/vernon-jones-gop-gubernatorial-candidate-headed-to-arizona-to-observe-election-audit_3848399.html\">praised<\/a> by right-wing media and Trump supporters <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azcentral.com\/story\/news\/politics\/arizona\/2021\/05\/13\/arizona-election-audit-whats-happening-today-inside-coliseum\/5068227001\/\">visiting<\/a> from other states, the contractors have been struggling to parse the building blocks of the official results \u2014 which are key baselines for any legitimate assessment of the outcome\u2019s accuracy.<\/p>\n<p>For example, every paper ballot is scanned to start the counting process. A digital image is created that gets analyzed by software that detects votes and compiles a table of those results. Those tables are built into an overall spreadsheet of results, called the cast vote record. The Senate\u2019s contractors have not looked at any ballot images, insiders have told Voting Booth. They also have been struggling with the cast vote record, according to others who have been talking with the contractors.<\/p>\n<p>By contrast, the seasoned auditors want to use the cast vote record to make their case by saying what the results are in any randomly selected batch of ballots \u2014 and then counting those ballots by hand to affirm the voting system\u2019s accuracy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere were 10,341 total batches of ballots counted in the Maricopa County 2020 General Election; most batches contain about 200 ballots. What if I could show the count of votes for every candidate in every race on any number of selected batches \u2014 <b><i>without ever opening a box or touching a ballot<\/i><\/b>?\u201d their June 8 letter to Fann and Bennett began. \u201cAt a minimum, this would conclusively dispel the growing allegations that the critical file, the Cast Vote Record, may be corrupted. The official results are derived from this file.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have analyzed official public records from Maricopa County\u2019s 2020 General Election,\u201d the challengers\u2019 letter continued. \u201cWe have debunked the allegation that 40,000 ballots were dumped into the count by reconciling the voted file and certified canvass against the voter registration file. We have carefully analyzed the official Cast Vote Record to find: (1) the Record is complete and accurate and (2) President Trump lost Maricopa County due to the fact that disaffected Republican supportive voters did not vote for him and (3) the disaffection was widespread across all precincts in Maricopa County.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>White said that he had not received a reply from Fann or Bennett. Meanwhile, other critics of the Senate\u2019s inquiries said that it was time for the Arizona Senate to conclude the exercise and the election\u2019s losing side to accept the result.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[B]y overstating its capabilities, the vendor Cyber Ninjas has let down Arizona Senate Republicans,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azcentral.com\/story\/opinion\/op-ed\/2021\/06\/05\/arizona-election-audit-justified-now-farce-how-end-responsibly\/7531189002\/\">wrote<\/a> longtime Republican election lawyer Ben Ginsberg in an Arizona Republic commentary. \u201cTheir haphazard procedures have turned the Audit into the \u2018audit\u2019 and their findings won\u2019t be credible, whether they deem the election flawed or not\u2026 [T]hey are at the helm of a fatally tainted audit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen is this going to end?\u201d asked David Becker, the executive director of the nonprofit, nonpartisan <a href=\"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/cy65c77e\">Center for Election Innovation and Research<\/a>. \u201cThere is no amount of facts that will convince people who are living in another reality\u2026 The outcome of the election has already been confirmed. What are we doing here?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/articles\/seasoned-auditors-challenge-arizona-senate-to-let-them-confirm-2020-results\/\">Latest \u2013 Truthout<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/articles\/seasoned-auditors-challenge-arizona-senate-to-let-them-confirm-2020-results\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"133\" src=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1232636768-200x133.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Contractors working for Cyber Ninjas, which was hired by the Arizona State Senate, examine and recount ballots from the 2020 general election at Veterans Memorial Coliseum on May 1, 2021, in Phoenix, Arizona.\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1232636768-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1232636768-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1232636768-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1232636768-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1232636768-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1232636768-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1232636768-2400x1600.jpg 2400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\"><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-summary\">The auditors are seeking to confront and upstage the pro-Trump contractors.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2945,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3509,4999,22676,23553,49,4,29388,7505],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202234"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2945"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202234"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":202235,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202234\/revisions\/202235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}