The Republican-led Arizona state Senate announced Wednesday four auditing firms have been hired to recount the 2.1 million ballots cast in the Maricopa County general election last year.
The partisan effort, as Democrats oppose the audit as a “dangerous fishing expedition,” shows that nearly five months after the 2020 election, allies of former President Donald Trump are still fighting to investigate possible issues with the contest, even with election officials stressing no widespread issues and the courts rejecting a slew of election fraud lawsuits.
Weeks after receiving a favorable ruling from a judge in the face of opposition from the GOP-led Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, the Republican caucus in the state Senate said in a readout it hired “independent auditors to complete a comprehensive, full forensic audit” of the county’s 2020 election, “including a hand recount of all ballots.”
“After months of interviewing various forensic auditors, the Arizona Senate has found a qualified team consisting of Wake Technology Services, Inc., CyFIR, LLC, Digital Discovery, and Cyber Ninjas, Inc. to conduct the audit,” Senate President Karen Fann wrote.
The release added the team will be led by Cyber Ninjas, a Florida-based cybersecurity company that specializes in application security, working across financial services and government sectors.
PROTESTERS HECKLE ARIZONA DEMOCRATS WARNING GOP ELECTION AUDIT IS ‘DANGEROUS FISHING EXPEDITION’
“The audit will validate every area of the voting process to ensure the integrity of the vote,” the release stated, adding, “The scope of work will include, but is not limited to, scanning all the ballots, a full manual recount, auditing the registration and votes cast, the vote counts, and the electronic voting system.”
Auditing is expected to last around 60 days, and the auditor will issue a report detailing all findings discovered during the assessment. Leadership will not be directly involved in the process to maintain integrity and transparency, the statement said.
According to a document obtained by NBC affiliate 12 News, the GOP Senate’s audit with Cyber Ninjas will cost $150,000. The source of the funding was not immediately clear.
A spokesperson for CyFIR declined to comment, citing a contractual agreement.
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has already conducted two separate forensic audits of the 2020 election, though the Senate GOP contends it needs to conduct its own separate audit with a trusted group in order to restore faith in the voting system among constituents.
The Arizona Senate Republicans have not shown interest or made calls in auditing their own races, only naming the presidential election as its core focus. Their demand for an audit, boosted by the Arizona Republican Party, echoes Trump‘s election fraud accusations, calling for audits of Maricopa County’s presidential election results.
Fann previously announced a firm was selected in January but later said the Senate was still searching for an independent audit team after it was reported she may hire a Texas-based firm called Allied Security Operations Group, which is aligned with Trump and his legal advisers and did a controversial “forensic audit” in Antrim County, Michigan, criticized by both state officials and Dominion Voting Systems.
Cyber Ninjas owner Doug Logan has reportedly been an active promoter of unverified claims alleging widespread election fraud in the general election last year.
Logan retweeted a post from a since-suspended Twitter account that said, “I’m tired of hearing people say there was no fraud. It happened, it’s real, and people better get wise fast,” AZ Mirror reported Wednesday.
The outlet discovered online archives from Logan’s Twitter account, @securityvoid, which he reportedly deleted sometime in January. Multiple posts by Logan showed activity in support of the “Stop the Steal” movement, which boosted claims about the 2020 general election being rife with fraudulent activity.
Since the election, many Republican officials in the state questioned the integrity of the vote, especially in Maricopa, the state’s most populous county.
“Our people need to be assured that the Senate and Maricopa County can work together on this audit, to bring integrity to the election process,” Fann said.
While the Senate GOP is absorbed with conducting the full forensic audit, Arizona GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward has actively pushed against conducting a recount of her own election in which she won by only 42 votes. She contends the outcome is “final” because there were no attempts to contest the results on the day of the vote.
Dominion Voting Systems machines were used in the Maricopa election; the company has become the target of election fraud claims contending the contest was rigged, handing President Joe Biden victory over Trump. The company has vehemently denied allegations it was involved in manipulating votes and has filed lawsuits against major networks, such as a $1.6 billion case against Fox News.
Dominion has also filed lawsuits against attorneys Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, along with MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, all of whom have been at the forefront of election fraud claims. Trump himself could be next, with an attorney representing the voting company refusing to rule it out over the weekend.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Washington Examiner reached out to Wake Technology Services, Digital Discovery, Cyber Ninjas, and the Arizona Senate GOP but did not immediately receive a response.
