[ad_1]
(Proofing screenshot from AZ)
Phoenix – An Arizona Senate spokesperson said Monday that the manual recount of 2.1 million ballot papers from the 2020 Maricopa County election has been completed.
Three boxes of Braille ballot papers – about 50 to 60 in total – were left to be counted along with large-volume, overseas military and duplicate ballot papers, but all other boxes went through the process, which began on April 23.
Ken Bennett, the Senate audit liaison officer, said the end of the manual count would not immediately indicate a final audit report.
Resources were diverted to paper examination of mailed ballot envelopes for signatures as counting ended.
The process, Bennett said, is intended to address questions such as “Are there folds in the 1.9 million mail-in ballot papers? Are the alignment marks on the fronts and ballot backs consistent with the original ballot papers? Is there a drop in the oval as a handheld device fills in that shape?” Oval instead of an inkjet printer or a Xerox machine or whatever you might think?”
Other parts of the audit still to come will likely include a second scheduling of the scans, but Bennett or others have not provided details on what this might entail should it occur.
Republican leaders in the state Senate who ordered the scrutiny appointed Bennett, the former Arizona secretary of state, as their representative during the process. The only races listed are for US president and senator, and Democrats narrowly won seats in the county and state.
Operations were temporarily halted on May 14 due to high school graduation ceremonies previously booked at the Colosseum and resumed 10 days later. Under a second lease, the building is available to auditors until the end of June.
Maricopa County previously allowed two audits of the November 2020 general election by independent contractors approved by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the US Election Assistance Commission.
Those audits found no problems with the count, but state Senate Republicans summoned the county for access to ballots and voting equipment at the urging of Donald Trump supporters who refuse to accept President Joe Biden’s narrow victory in Arizona.
After winning a legal battle to enforce the subpoena, Senate President Karen Fan hired several vendors, with Florida-based Cyber Ninjas as prime contractor, to inspect ballots, machines and voting systems.
Fann’s selection of Cyber Ninjas’ $150,000 bid quickly led to scrutiny of the deleted Twitter account of company founder Doug Logan, who had been involved in supporting unfounded electoral conspiracy theories.
Since then, questions have been raised about the sources of funds raised in the name of auditing as well as unconventional methods of inspecting ballot papers.
Maricopa County officials, most of whom are Republicans, defended the integrity of their electoral processes and questioned the auditors’ competence, methods, and intentions.
Fan said the goal of the scrutiny is to restore confidence in the election system and find ways to improve Arizona’s voting laws, not reverse the outcome of the election.
Bennett did not speculate about what changes could be made in response to the scrutiny.
“Until a full and comprehensive report is released, we will not be able to accept recommendations on what Arizona could do better,” he said last Tuesday.
Associated Press and Kitar News 92.3 FM Peter Samore and Griselda Zetino contributed to this report.
Follow @KTAR923
We want to hear from you.
Do you have a story idea or advice? Pass it on to the KTAR News Team here.
.
[ad_2]
Picture Credit!