Based on the results of the Maricopa County ballot audit, as well as findings that have come from informal auditing of the election in Pima County, Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward wants an audit done in every county in Arizona. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich is currently investigating the results of the Maricopa County audit, and has ordered the county supervisors to put a litigation hold on the election materials. Former President Donald Trump has called to decertify the results of the Pima County election or hold a new election.
“I’ve been asking for full audits of all 15 of Arizona counties,” Ward said during a video. “Momentum for election integrity only continues to build. We the people will not back down. We will not waver.”
AZ GOP Chairwoman @kelliwardaz now wants to audit the 2020 election results in “all 15 of Arizona’s counties.” pic.twitter.com/932Zn9UULf
— The Republican Accountability Project (@AccountableGOP) October 24, 2021
Arizona Rep. Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff) called for an audit of all parts of the country that used problematic voting machines last summer. She tweeted on July 5, “Audit all counties that used the machines — even in red states.” She wrote a letter signed by 41 state legislators from around the country calling for audits in every state and demanding decertification if the results turn out similar to the Maricopa County ballot audit. The letter now has 150 legislators signing onto it. Trump mentioned it during his “Save America” rally in Georgia last month. Many prominent Republicans are now calling for audits in other states where Biden narrowly won, including Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
Ken Bennett, a former Arizona secretary of state who was hired by the Arizona Senate as the liaison to the independent Maricopa County ballot audit, has been holding town halls around the state with Look Ahead America discussing the results of the audit. Look Ahead America is run by Matt Braynard, a former Trump adviser. The group is raising money to conduct its own investigation of the Arizona 2020 election.
The group has several election integrity projects. They are thumbprint authentication of absentee ballots, mandated and public voter list hygiene, ban on the use of “black box” voting equipment, appointment of a citizens elections supervisory committee, creation and sufficient funding for a dedicated voter fraud investigation unit within the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, and equitable distribution of private contributions to election operations. The last project is aimed at ensuring that powerful people and entities like Facebook Mark Zuckerberg are unable to wield disproportionate influence over the elections process in swing states.
Bennett said at the town hall in Tucson earlier this month, “If I learned anything from the audit, it is that we need to be able to audit the elections within 10 days after the election, not 10 months. We need to be able to audit elections before they are certified.”
During an election hearing by the House Oversight Committee earlier this month, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) said “we don’t know” who won the presidential election in Arizona. Kari Lake, the leading Republican contender for Arizona governor in 2022 who has been endorsed by Trump, said during an interview with former Trump advisor Steve Bannon about Arizona’s Democratic secretary of state, “I think Katie Hobbs is going to have a really tough time campaigning from behind bars, to be honest.” Lake supports decertifying the election if the evidence shows Trump won.
A Rasmussen Reports poll this month found that 56 percent of likely voters believe that election fraud influenced the results of the 2020 election. That’s increased from 51 percent in April. In June, 55 percent of likely voters said they support election audits.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Kelli Ward” by Dr. Kelli Ward.
