Maricopa County is preparing for recount
Democratic secretary of state has called effort by Ariz. GOP a sham
PHOENIX — Officials in Arizona’s most populous county started delivering equipment used in the November election won by President Joe Biden to the state fairgrounds Wednesday. They plan to cart 2.1 million ballots to the site Thursday so Republicans in the state Senate who have questioned whether Biden’s victory was legitimate can recount them and audit the results.
The delivery will kick off weeks of counting by contractors hired by the Republicancontrolled Senate at the rented site.
The Republican-dominated Maricopa County Board of Supervisors denied use of their facilities after losing a court fight set off by a Senate subpoena for the election materials. They insist the election Biden won was conducted fairly and counted accurately. Senate Democrats oppose the effort to recount the ballots of the long ago certified election and are not participating.
Ken Bennett, a former Arizona secretary of state who is acting as GOP Senate President Karen Fann’s liaison overseeing the audit process, said security will be tight.
Options for reporters to cover the actual event are in flux, with Bennett giving varying versions of openness over the past week.
The operation will be livestreamed by the pro-Trump, right-wing television network OANN, which helped raise some of the money used to finance the audit and recount. It will also be streamed on the https://azaudit.org/ website.
The county announced it would deliver the materials over two days because of the volume involved. The Senate will use the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, former home of Phoenix Suns NBA basketball team, to hold the election equipment and recount the 2.1 million 2020 ballots.
Republican Senate President Karen Fann has hired Floridabased Cyber Ninjas — a firm led by a backer of unfounded election fraud theories — to oversee the audit, including a hand recount of ballots. The Senate is paying $150,000, and an OANN host helped raise at least another $150,000 for the effort.
Bennett in a recent interview vowed to ensure that the audit is as fair as possible, despite concerns that Cyber Ninjas founder Doug Logan has embraced Trump and expressed doubt that Biden won. Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs called the Republican effort a sham.