Maricopa County election officials delivered a brief point-by-point takedown on Thursday of the Arizona Senate’s monthslong audit, saying the people running it repeatedly made “faulty claims.”
Contractors made assumptions about missing and duplicate ballots, did not understand election material and equipment and relied on unproven third-party data to make conclusions, according to dual reports released by the Elections Department and the Recorder’s Office.
The reports were timed for release on the same day that Maricopa County Supervisors Jack Sellers and Bill Gates testified before the U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee, which held a hearing on the audit.
The reports represent the county’s first written responses to the Senate’s election review since the results were made public on Sept. 24. Officials had previously countered them on social media, debunking contractors’ claims in real-time as they were presented to the Senate. …
The county’s new reports target findings by the Cyber Ninjas, the Florida-based company hired to lead the audit, and by Shiva Ayyadurai, who conducted a review of signatures on ballot envelopes.
The Cyber Ninjas’ CEO Doug Logan and Ayyadurai both espoused conspiracy theories and made claims of election fraud after the 2020 election. The Cyber Ninjas and its subcontractors were paid millions to research and write the report by nonprofits set up by Trump allies and prominent figures in the “Stop the Steal” movement.