Trump-supporting election official denounces Arizona 'audit' as a total farce

Much of the right-wing media have been treating the "audit" of the 2020 election in Maricopa County, Arizona like a legitimate fact-finding effort. But two conservative media outlets that have been highly critical of the "audit" have been The Bulwark and the National Review. And in a recent National Review article, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer lays out some reasons why the Maricopa "audit" is a sham.

The "audit" was ordered by Republicans in the Arizona State Senate. But unlike legitimate bipartisan recounts of the vote in Arizona — which demonstrated that now-President Joe Biden legitimately won the state — this "audit" is being conducted by the far-right Florida-based firm Cyber Ninjas.

Richer is not a Never Trumper. In fact, he describes himself as a "Republican who voted for (former President Donald) Trump." But he stresses that because Biden legitimately won Arizona, the will of Arizona voters must be respected.

"In the immediate aftermath of the November 3, 2020 election," Richer writes, "Maricopa County oversaw a hand-count audit of over 47,000 votes, a statistically significant sampling as determined by multiple professional statisticians. The recognized political parties — Republican, Democrat and Libertarian — administered the hand count in groups of three volunteers appointed by party leadership. Those hand-counted results matched the machine-tabulated results with 100 percent accuracy. Perfect accuracy. This was the third hand count performed by the political parties in 2020 that confirmed the accuracy of Maricopa County's tabulation equipment."

Richer goes on to say that after the Maricopa County election results were thoroughly vetted, he "made the only reasonable conclusion I could make: Maricopa County accurately tabulated the November 3 ballots."

"I say this without any bias or skin in the game," Richer writes. "The irony of all of this is that I was merely a candidate in November. In fact, I defeated the incumbent Democrat who was previously the top elections official for the county."

Richer sarcastically adds, "I guess he forgot to rig his own election? Or was it a clever ruse?"

The Maricopa County recorder stresses that Cyber Ninjas and its CEO, Doug Logan, don't have "any election-audit experience" and embrace QAnon conspiracy theories.

"Logan has indulged the wildest election conspiracy theories, including the one that deceased Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez somehow had a hand in rigging America's elections," Richer writes. "Perhaps because of the malignant influence of Chavez, Logan had already concluded, prior to even starting the audit, that the nation's elections were fraudulent…. Cyber Ninjas? I'm not going to believe a darn thing they say. And I'm a Republican who voted for Trump."