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Further Delays Plague Arizona Senate Republicans' Election Review

Published: Wednesday, August 25, 2021 - 3:22pm
Updated: Thursday, August 26, 2021 - 7:38am

A report from a partisan review of the 2020 election in Maricopa County was supposed to be handed over to Republican state senators on Monday. Now officials involved say there’s no timeline for when those findings will be delivered, let alone released to the public.

On Monday, Senate President Karen Fann (R-Prescott) announced that key members from a team of contractors conducting the election review tested positive for the coronavirus, including Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan, whose firm is leading the effort.

Fann also said that a team of senators, attorneys and others involved in the election review would meet Wednesday morning to begin analyzing a partial report from Cyber Ninjas. The partial report was supposed to be delivered Monday, she said.

But as of Wednesday morning, no report, partial or otherwise, has been delivered, according to Randy Pullen, a former chair of the Arizona Republican Party who Fann designated as a spokesman for the election review.

Pullen said a meeting still occurred, at which Logan was virtually present. But instead of analyzing the Cyber Ninjas’ findings, all that was discussed was when a final report will actually be complete.

There’s no timeline for that, Pullen said.

Even after a report is delivered to the Senate and others, it could be weeks before the review’s findings are publicly available. Fann said Monday that the report would first be reviewed for “accuracy, clarity and proof of documentation of findings” before it will be presented to the Senate Judiciary Committee and released to the public.

Fann has been criticized for hiring Cyber Ninjas, a firm with no prior election-related experience run by Logan, who’s spread conspiracies of election fraud before and during his work for the Senate.

And election officials who observed the review process on behalf of Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, have pointed out numerous flaws in the methodology used to conduct a hand recount of nearly 2.1 million ballots.

While Fann continues to insist the process is not an effort to overturn the 2020 election of President Biden, others involved say that’s exactly the outcome they’re hoping for.

Multiple audits have already confirmed the accuracy of the election.

Politics