Arizona Senate Democrats were heckled by protesters as they denounced a planned, GOP Senate-led election audit of Maricopa County ballots, arguing that the endeavor will further inflame conspiracy theories surrounding the 2020 contests.
“This audit is a dangerous fishing expedition that could harm the sanctity of the secret ballot,” state Sen. Kirsten Engel of Tucson said at the news conference led by Senate Democrats. Meanwhile, a protester nearby yelled “treason” at her.
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 and select a trusted group in order to restore faith in the voting system among constituents.
Steve Gallardo, the only Democrat on the five-person board, spoke at the outdoor event about the county’s audits, which uncovered no evidence of widespread fraud or problems with vote-counting machines.
ARIZONA SENATE NARROWS SEARCH FOR MARICOPA COUNTY 2020 ELECTION AUDIT TO ‘PREFERRED’ TEAM
A group of protesters at the conference began yelling that Gallardo was a liar and that the board’s audits were “fake” and that they used “fake ballots,” according to the livestream posted by the Arizona State Senate Democratic Caucus. There were about a half-dozen hecklers total, according to the Arizona Mirror.
“You lost the election — deal with it,” Gallardo said. A protester replied back at him, “No, we didn’t!”
State Sen. Martin Quezada said at the news conference that Arizona is one of the leading states in the nation with proposals to suppress votes. One protester yelled back, “Liar,” and said voter identification is needed, though Arizona has existing voter ID laws.
Last week, Arizona Senate President Karen Fann said she had narrowed a “preferred forensic audit team” but did not identify the members.
The Republican 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 former President Donald Trump and his legal advisers and did a controversial “forensic audit” in Antrim County, Michigan, criticized by both state officials and Dominion Voting Systems.
The Senate plans to hand count all 2.1 million ballots cast in the county’s Nov. 3 election.
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The Washington Examiner reached out to the Arizona Republican Party and Fann but did not immediately receive a response.
