Afternoon thunderstorms caused a leak in the facility where workers moved operations for an audit of the 2020 election in Maricopa County, but ballots are safe, a representative for Arizona Senate Republican’s review said Friday.
Phoenix and other parts of the state have experienced heavy rainfall and flash flooding, leading to roof damage to the facility where the GOP-led state Senate’s audit team transported materials from the Veterans Memorial Coliseum earlier this month.
“No ballots are at risk,” Randy Pullen, a spokesman for the review, told the Arizona Republic.
Audit workers quickly pulled ballot boxes away from the leaks inside the Wesley Bolin Building, Pullen said, adding four leaks are stemming from specific spots, such as ducts in the ceiling.
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Fairgrounds management was called to fix the leaks inside the building, located at the south side of the area, Pullen said, noting the leaks would be an easy fix.
Senate President Karen Fann hired contractors, led by the firm Cyber Ninjas, to manage the election audit that began on April 23. The review, which includes a hand recount, has extended long past the initially anticipated end date of May 14.
President Joe Biden won Arizona and its 11 electoral votes by more than 10,000 votes out of the 3.3 million across the state. His lead was due partly to his advantage in Maricopa County, where the Democrat scored nearly 45,000 more votes than former President Donald Trump among roughly 2.1 million ballots cast.
After courts rejected several lawsuits challenging the 2020 results in Arizona and other states Trump lost, the former president and his allies have turned their attention to the GOP-led Arizona Senate audit in Maricopa County, touting it as an inspection that could support their claims of widespread fraud or irregularities.
Fann has said the audit is not about overturning the election but rather finding problems that could be addressed in election-focused legislation. Still, some in her caucus, including state Sen. Wendy Rogers, have called for recalling the state’s electors even before the audit is completed and its final findings are released.
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State Senate Majority Whip Sonny Borrelli floated the possibility of introducing a resolution to “reclaim electors” if the audit’s findings put Biden’s 2020 election victory in doubt. Although audit officials predicted the audit would conclude by the end of the summer, testimony last week before the Arizona Senate indicated it could be drawn out if their request for more materials and information leads to subpoenas.
Maricopa County officials, who have said the auditors are incompetent and refuse to cooperate fully with the review, previously authorized two election machine audits that found no irregularities in the county’s 2020 election. There was also a hand recount of a statistical sample of ballots that did not turn up any problems.
Maricopa County officials announced last month voting machines subpoenaed for the audit would be removed from service after Arizona’s Democratic secretary of state, Katie Hobbs, threatened to decertify the equipment, citing concerns with the methods of Cyber Ninjas, a Florida-based firm hired to lead the review.
The U.S. Justice Department also signaled it may take action against the audit.
