Monday was supposed to be the day the Arizona Senate-sponsored “audit” of the 2020 presidential election finally came to a close. The team from Cyber Ninjas, the company the state Senate’s Republican president hired even though it had no experience in elections or the auditing thereof, was supposed to submit its long-awaited draft report.
Instead, they all got Covid.
Well, three out of five of them did anyway. Honestly, though, given how things have gone the past five months in the Grand Canyon state, I almost feel like that’s on me for not seeing it coming.
Before Monday’s plot twist, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer separately pushed back against Cyber Ninjas’ efforts. In May, Richer, the Republican official who oversees the county’s elections, said former President Donald Trump’s lies about Arizona’s election were “unhinged.” In an open letter, he pleaded with his fellow Republicans to accept the election results and move on.
Last week, Hobbs, a Democrat, dropped a 45-page report criticizing the many, many oddities, inconsistencies and outright snafus that have marred the recount and the subsequent audit. “There are numerous examples of failures that all but guarantee inaccurate results, which would also be impossible to replicate,” the report reads. “Any one of these issues would deem an audit completely unreliable, but the combination of these failures renders this review meritless.”
Hobbs and Richer needn’t have rushed to beat the final draft’s release. Deadlines have been a major stumbling block for the fine folks with Cyber Ninjas since this farce began back in March. Remember: This was all supposed to be wrapped up back in May.
What’s the hold-up? Well, we’d know more on that front if Cyber Ninjas were willing to turn over documents about how it’s conducting the recount and the audit. Cyber Ninjas and the state Senate are still trying to keep those records secret, despite an Arizona appeals court’s ruling last week that they must be released.
Meanwhile, Democrats in the U.S. House are running out of patience with the ninjas. Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., have been waiting for almost a month for the company to turn over documents related to the audit. Cyber Ninjas now has until Friday to do so voluntarily before potentially getting slapped with a subpoena.
Which brings us back to the Covid-related delay in the company’s conclusions. The state Senate GOP released a statement on Twitter to say that while it had received part of the draft final report, the rest would still be forthcoming … eventually:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Statement from Senate President @FannKfann #AZSenate #Audit pic.twitter.com/H7xDHdRiK3








