AZ Audit Reaches Key Milestone with Over 1 Million Ballots Reviewed, Expect to Finish by End of Month
The audit commissioned by the Arizona Senate of Maricopa County’s general election reached a significant milestone with over 1 million ballots hand-counted and reviewed.
Audit Update: As of June 1st, we have surpassed counting 1.2 million ballots. Thank you to all our AZ volunteers!
— Maricopa Arizona Audit (@ArizonaAudit) June 2, 2021
Auditors are projecting being finished with the ballot count by the end of June.
“Great election audit news! We surpassed counting 50% of the Maricopa ballots last week. The audit continues!” the audit team tweeted from its official account Monday.
Great election audit news! We surpassed counting 50% of the Maricopa ballots last week. The audit continues!
— Maricopa Arizona Audit (@ArizonaAudit) May 31, 2021
Auditors said a third shift has been added to speed up the process even more, thanks to volunteers stepping up.
Update: The third shift of the Maricopa election audit starts on June 1st. Thank you to our AZ volunteers!
— Maricopa Arizona Audit (@ArizonaAudit) May 31, 2021
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Approximately 2.1 million ballots were cast in Maricopa County (which encompasses the Phoenix metropolitan area) in November’s general election.
President Joe Biden won by 0.3 percent, approximately 10,500 votes, over former President Donald Trump.
That number represents the closest margin of any of the swing states that went for Biden.
Maricopa was the only county in the state to flip from red to blue from 2016 to 2020 in the presidential race.
Despite Biden’s victory, Republicans carried every countywide office in Maricopa, save for sheriff (which an incumbent Democrat held), including flipping the county recorder and winning the open treasurer seat.
Arizona Republican Party chairwoman Kelli Ward — who is not involved with the audit, but closely monitoring it — reported in a video posted on Monday that auditors are estimating they will be finished by late June.
“We also know there has been additional discussion among the Arizona Senate and the auditors regarding the possibility of hiring a California-based election transparency group called Citizens Oversight to run an entirely electronic recount of digital images of ballots to count all votes cast for every single race on the county’s ballots,” Ward said.
“These totals could be used in every race to compare totals with official totals for Maricopa County and from the audit itself,” she added.
We honor and give our thanks and prayers today to those who died in uniform serving our nation and their families who sacrificed so much for our freedom. America’s Audit in good hands. AZGOP Chairwoman @kelliwardaz reports 1 million ballots counted #AZAUDIT #AMERICASAUDIT pic.twitter.com/D634eNyAWV
— Arizona Republican Party (@AZGOP) June 1, 2021
Ward encouraged people to ignore the torrent of negative media coverage and complaints the audit has generated.
“Don’t be fooled by their propaganda and lies,” she said. “America’s Audit is in good shape and proceeding responsibly, professionally, efficiently, effectively and on time.”
Morning! I’m your pool reporter today. I took some time away this weekend so I’m trying to get all caught up and will report back soon! #azauditpool pic.twitter.com/lqoc31ZEwU
— Jen Fifield (@JenAFifield) June 1, 2021
Democratic Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and Republican Maricopa Board of Supervisors chairman Jack Sellers have been among the most outspoken critics of the audit.
Hobbs has referred to the undertaking as the “fraudit” in tweets and wrote in an opinion piece published last week, “This entire exercise is a political stunt that has only served to cast doubt on the integrity of our elections.”
The secretary of state suggested any findings the audit team produces will not be valid.
“Our state conducted the most secure election in history,” said Hobbs, who announced Wednesday her candidacy for Arizona governor in the 2022 contest.
Sellers has been equally harsh in his assessment of the audit.
“I will not be responding to any more requests from this sham process. Finish what you’re calling an audit and be ready to defend a report in a court of law,” he pronounced at the conclusion of a board of supervisors meeting last month.
Like Hobbs, Sellers and the board previously certified the election results in late November.
Trump commended the Arizona Senate for its decision to undertake an election audit.
“Arizona Republican State Senators are engendering such tremendous respect, even adoration, for the great job they are doing on the Forensic Audit of the 2020 Presidential Election Scam,” he said.
Republican lawmakers from Pennsylvania reportedly plan to travel this week to Arizona to meet with members of the state’s legislature and tour the site of the Maricopa County general election audit.
On Wednesday, a PA Delegation consisting of State Senator Doug Mastriano, State Senator Cris Dush, and State Rep. Rob Kauffman will visit the AZ Capitol to meet with members of the AZ Legislature, and then tour the AZ Audit to receive a brief from the forensic audit team.
— Maricopa Arizona Audit (@ArizonaAudit) June 1, 2021
The Arizona audit team tweeted, “On Wednesday, a PA Delegation consisting of State Senator Doug Mastriano, State Senator Cris Dush, and State Rep. Rob Kauffman will visit the AZ Capitol to meet with members of the AZ Legislature, and then tour the AZ Audit to receive a brief from the forensic audit team.”
