The audit report that was to have been delivered Tuesday in the review of the 2020 election results from Maricopa County, Arizona, will still be out around the end of the month, Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Dr. Kelli Ward tells Newsmax.
"It's not really delayed," Ward said on Newsmax's "American Agenda." "What we've been told is that the last week of August or the first week of September is when the public could start to expect to see some of these reports. The state Senate has partial information in front of them right now that is being reviewed for clarity and accuracy, to make sure that there is proper documentation of everything that is going to be presented to the public."
However, Arizona Senate President Karen Fann, a Republican, said in a statement on Twitter Monday that the full report is delayed because three members of the Cyber Ninjas, the Florida team conducting the GOP-backed audit, are "quite sick" with COVID-19.
"The team expected to have the full draft ready for the Senate today, but unfortunately Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan and two other members of the five-person audit team have tested positive for COVID-19 and are quite sick," Fann said.
Ward told Newsmax that there are 1.9 million ballot envelope images that have to be examined, to determine if Maricopa County "accepted blank boxes" or "nothing that looks like a signature."
"Remember, out of those nearly 2 million ballots that were mailed in, they only rejected 587," she said.
Meanwhile, Maricopa County officials posted a statement on Twitter insisting that it ran free and fair elections, and has the checks and balances, along with court rulings to prove its stance.
"We don't even know who's running Maricopa county's Twitter account," Ward said. "They're trying to run the government through Twitter. It's ridiculous. They should be corresponding, communicating with the professional audit team that is on the ground. If they believe that their election was so transparent, so 100% accurate why have they put stumbling blocks in every step of the way?"
The courts have also ruled that the county's officials must comply with legislative subpoenas, said Ward, and it is her opinion that the county is in contempt of the state Senate for not surrounding routers or other sought items.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.