#Maricopa county audit findings free#

The counters were sharing who they were marking for the votes, whether that was Donald Trump or Joe Biden.īennett said he wanted to check into that further, but counters were told to stop talking about the candidates. The paid counters were talking with one another as they reviewed each ballot on a projected screen and recorded how it was voted. The first was to ensure boxes of ballot are properly tracked once they left the secured area.Īnother related to conversation at the counting tables. Ken Bennett, the former state secretary of state serving as the Senate’s liaison for the audit, said he was concerned about a few processes he saw during today’s recount and would suggest changes. The volunteer observers watching over the work of the paid counters reviewing the ballots aren’t supposed to talk to them.īut hours went by before an attorney informed us of this toward the end of our shift.ģ:20 p.m.: Bennett says he will suggest changes to recount process

Maria Polletta 3:30 p.m.: Training as the day wore on 'What are he and the Maricopa County Commissioners trying to hide?”

#Maricopa county audit findings free#

“(Ducey) wants to ‘pretend' the election was free and fair,” Trump said Friday. Though Ducey had long defended Arizona’s election system as one that already makes it easy to vote and difficult to cheat, his failure to deliver Arizona’s 11 electoral votes to Trump last year spurred the implosion of the pair’s alliance. Doug Ducey for certifying Arizona’s election results and for being 'shockingly of zero help to the State Senate” in its quest for a new audit. He also seized the chance to again slam Gov. All of us should want fair and honest elections in our great State! The nation is watching Arizona!” he tweeted on Thursday.ĭespite prior audits - and a host of election lawsuits - failing to turn up evidence of Joe Biden “stealing” the presidency, Trump thanked the lawmakers for 'the incredible job they are doing in exposing the large scale voter fraud” in the 2020 election. “Very exciting to be involved in Arizona's massive and historic election audit which begins today. Anthony Kern was at the coliseum Friday, hired as one of the people recounting ballots. 4:30 p.m.: Kern hired to recount ballotsįormer state Rep. The Republic will share updates from the coliseum and other news surrounding the audit, including a court hearing as Arizona Democrats seek to stop the process by raising concerns about ballot security and other issues. While journalists typically observe without being part of the process, the alternative was no access. Journalists were denied specific access to report or record the process, although The Arizona Republic and other media outlets have retained an attorney to challenge that decision.įor now, The Republic's Jen Fifield is inside the coliseum as one of the volunteer observers and pressing for the most basic tools a journalist needs: paper and pen.įifield, who has been covering county elections for months, signed up to work a six-hour shift as a volunteer observer beginning at 8 Friday morning. The Senate contracted with Florida-based technology company Cyber Ninjas to conduct the audit with a team of paid counters and volunteer observers. The Arizona Senate-ordered recount of Maricopa County election ballots was to begin Friday - nearly six months after voters elected Joe Biden as president - at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.