Cyber Ninjas Whine As Arizona ‘Audit’ Is Proved Utterly Pointless

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It’s been three weeks since the Arizona “audit”—a process that involved the most partisan of Trump partisans searching for “bamboo ballots” and the ghostly fingerprints of Hugo Chavez, under the supervision of a firm created expressly to bolster conspiracy theories—apparently came to a close. That is, the audit farce is still officially underway, but three weeks ago Cyber Ninjas tweeted out an announcement that they were done pretending to count ballots, and had moved onto the most critical part of the process: terminal whining.

As CBS News reports, Cyber Ninjas is now complaining that they “don’t have enough information” to complete the audit. Because getting to finger every single ballot, take control of the voting machines (which will now be discarded after the auditors did who knows what to them), and initiating a plan to go door-to-door asking people how they voted just isn’t enough. As has happened several times in the process, the Ninjas, along with supporters in the Arizona Senate, are directing fingers at the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors—the Republican-controlled Board of Supervisors—for failing to “cooperate” enough in an audit where they’ve turned over every ballot, every machine, and every scrap of paper related to the election. That’s not enough, say the Ninjas. They want … well, it might be easier to say what they don’t want. 

Until they get everything on their unreasonable list, and whatever unreasonable list comes after this, the “auditors” insist that they are not going to issue a report. Since July 2, all the ballots, machines, and accoutrements of Ninjaing have been parked at an unairconditioned building on the Arizona state fairgrounds. It’s unclear whether anyone is actually working there. Continue reading.

House Dems launch investigation into Arizona ballot review

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The oversight committee is seeking a wide range of information from Cyber Ninjas, the firm overseeing the Arizona effort.

The House Oversight Committee is launching an investigation into the ballot review being run by the Republican-controlled state Senate in Arizona, the committee announced on Wednesday.

“Americans’ right to vote is protected by the Constitution and is the cornerstone of our democratic system of government,” Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who helms the subcommittee on civil rights and civil liberties, said in a statement. 

The committee is seeking a wide range of information from Cyber Ninjas, the firm overseeing the Arizona effort, including communications it had with Maricopa County officials, former President Donald Trump or his representatives, and those who have advanced election-related falsehoods such as Sidney Powell, Mike Lindell and Lin Woods. Continue reading.

QAnon congresswoman predicts Arizona audit will prove Bill Barr let Trump’s victory be stolen

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) latest conspiracy is that former Attorney General Bill Barr is secretly part of the anti-Trump resistance.

According to Greene, Barr knew that the 2020 election was won by Donald Trump, but refused to fight for him. It’s for that reason that Greene thinks the GOP “audits” must continue, because they’ll vindicate Trump’s “Big Lie.”

“When that comes out, and the truth has shown that perhaps election fraud did happen, and President (Donald) Trump really won. then we’re going to see people that should have acted like William Barr, like our secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, and many others, we’re going to see them with mud on their faces,” Greene rambled to Newsmax on Monday. Continue reading.

Arizona’s Maricopa County will replace voting equipment, fearful that GOP-backed election review has compromised security

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Arizona’s Maricopa County announced Monday that it will replace voting equipment that was turned over to a private contractor for a Republican-commissioned review of the 2020 presidential election, concerned that the process compromised the security of the machines.

Officials from Maricopa, the state’s largest county and home to Phoenix, provided no estimates of the costs involved but have previously said that the machines cost millions to acquire.

“The voters of Maricopa County can rest assured, the County will never use equipment that could pose a risk to free and fair elections,” the county said in a statement. “As a result, the County will not use the subpoenaed equipment in any future elections.” Continue reading.

Arizona ‘Fraudit’ Challenged By Experienced Election Auditors

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A team of seasoned election auditors has challenged the Republicans leading the Arizona Senate’s inquiries into the accuracy of 2020’s presidential election results to a demonstration where the auditors say that they will conclusively show that Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in Arizona’s most populous county.

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’s 2020 election data. Those paper ballots would be hand-counted and compared to the electronic totals to attest to the election’s results. These paper and digital records are the building blocks of the county’s voting system.

“We 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’s contractor, Florida-based Cyber] Ninjasunder the [Senate’s] subpoena, without ever looking at a single ballot,” Tucson’s Benny White, 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. Continue reading.

Last-ditch attempt to undermine the presidential election came from another disturbing QAnon conspiracy

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The 2020 presidential election was over several months ago, but there is still an audit underway in Maricopa County, Ariz. — and it’s contributing to another full-blown conspiracy being perpetrated by QAnon believes.

According to The Daily Beast, audit watchers are now expressing concern about the presence of a man named Ron Watkins, an individual who is believed to have contributed to the birth of the whole QAnon conspiracy theory.

Although this recount should have no impact on the outcome of the presidential election since Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R), Arizona Secretary of State and the state’s Supreme Court chief justice have certified the results of the election, it has become a serious focal point for the conspiracy theorists that embraced former President Donald Trump’s claims about the election being stolen. Continue reading.