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- Arizona’s so-called election audit confirmed Joe Biden’s win over Trump in November 2020 election.
- Republicans in the state senate commissioned cybersecurity company Cyber Ninjas to lead the audit.
- Biden became the first Democrat to win in Maricopa County since President Harry S. Truman in 1948.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
A controversial GOP-led audit of Arizona’s election results further validated President Joe Biden’s win last November over Donald Trump.
The analysis of the election results in Maricopa County, the largest county in Arizona, was released on Friday, after a draft report leaked on Thursday. The audit resulted in Trump losing 261 votes, and Biden gained 99 additional votes.
Republicans in Arizona’s state Senate commissioned Cyber Ninjas to helm the audit in April 2021 after Biden became the first Democrat to win in Maricopa County since President Harry S. Truman won in 1948.
The election autopsy was funded by right-wing groups and donors and was widely criticized, including by Arizona Republicans. Maricopa County’s GOP-led Board of Supervisors said the draft reports were “littered with errors and faulty conclusions.”
After a report from the Cyber Ninjas-led review leaked to the media on Thursday, Maricopa County leaders highlighted the fact that even it had found the state was not “stolen” from Trump, as Insider previously reported.
“The #azaudit draft report from Cyber Ninjas confirms the county’s canvass of the 2020 General Election was accurate and the candidates certified as the winners did, in fact, win,” the official county Twitter account stated on Thursday.
Outside observers have criticized the review as a partisan endeavor that deviated from best practices. A June report from the nonpartisan States United Democracy Center questioned the professionalism of those counting Maricopa County’s 2.1 million ballots, suggesting flaws in the process could lead to false claims of “fraud.” The final product, they argued, “should not be trusted.”
Mark Lindeman, an expert on election audits at the nonprofit Verified Voting, on Friday described the Cyber Ninjas review as a “travesty.”
“The spinning-wheel hand counts, the arbitrary restrictions on observers, the reckless claims of fraud (and the quiet walkbacks), the madcap search for bamboo ballots, and the endless fundraising on extremist ‘media’ outlets are just part of the humiliating legacy,” he said in a statement.
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