by Debra Heine
The counting and examination of paper ballots in Maricopa County, Arizona concluded on Friday, but there is still more work to do before the full results are made public. According to one report, however, preliminary results could be released as early as this week.
The Maricopa County Audit Twitter account announced that they had finished counting paper ballots Friday evening.
Audit Update: Paper examination and counting are finished today. Thank you to all the amazing Arizona volunteers who made this audit possible! 🇺🇸
— Maricopa Arizona Audit (@ArizonaAudit) June 26, 2021
Ken Bennett, Senate liaison to the Maricopa County, Arizona, election audit, told OANN earlier this month that there would still be several more weeks of work left to do after the counting was concluded, and that the final results would not be made available until later this summer, or Labor Day at the latest.
Bennett explained that the auditors still needed to check for “voter registration anomalies,” such as when 50 votes come from the address of a two bedroom house, or “dead people voting.”
He also said that they will be checking for signatures on the envelopes of the ballots that were mailed in, because “if there are no signatures on those envelopes, they should never have been opened.”
After they complete that work, he said, the auditors will need a few more weeks to put together “the comprehensive first forensic audit in the history of the country.”
“I think we’re looking at some time in August, Bennett said. “But could be as early as late July, might be Labor Day,” he added.
Bennett told OANN that the Maricopa County election audit had been visited by elected officials, and election officials from 18 states.
Maricopa County audit findings are expected to be released in August.
That's the middle of the forecast cone for a report.
Ken Bennett, the Arizona Senate liaison, says earliest could be end of July or as late a Labor Day pic.twitter.com/McgxXLIHyy
— Daniel Chaitin (@danielchaitin7) June 19, 2021
According to The Gateway Pundit, a preliminary report of audit results could be released as early as Monday. “On Monday or soon after, we will know the true number of ballots that were cast in Maricopa County,” TGP reported, without citing a source.
“Next week ought to be lit. We wish we could say more,” TGP’s Jim Hoft wrote on Saturday.
The Arizona State Senate used its subpoena power last April to take possession of all 2.1 million ballots in Maricopa county and the machines that counted them, along with computer hard drives full of election data. The county initially resisted, but handed everything over after a judge ruled the Senate had the authority to seek the materials.
Republicans then hired a Florida company, Cyber Ninjas, to do a complete audit of the election results in the state’s most populous county.
The ballots were counted by hundreds of nonpartisan volunteers who had received background checks, according to Arizona Republican Chairwoman Kelli Ward.
The auditors looked at the weight and thickness of the ballots, examined folds under microscopes, and held ballots up to UV lights. They also examined information from voting machines.
Biden defeated Trump in Arizona by just 0.3 percent, or approximately 10,500 votes.
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Debra Heine is a reporter at American Greatness.
