My letter, of sorts, to my beloved Party (GOP) on the Ninja audit and the November 2020 election. The results again matched 100%," he added. "The County then ran another, post-election, logic and accuracy test to make sure the machines had not been disrupted in any manner during the election. Those hand-counted votes matched the machine count 100%," he wrote. Though the County facilitated the hand count, the political party appointees performed the actual counting, not staff of Maricopa County. "After the November 2020 election, appointees from the Republican, Democrat, and Libertarian parties worked in bipartisan groups of three to hand count more than 47,000 votes. Richer also pointed to this fact in his letter. They've also said that the results were already formally audited, revealing no signs of fraud or significant discrepancies. But GOP officials from Maricopa County have said the audit has done precisely the opposite. Richer went on to write that he's "embarrassed" to hear Republicans "concoct the most outlandish theories (Chinese ballots!) to avoid accepting the reality: we lost the top two races in Arizona." He pointed out in the letter that many of the election officials now being attacked by Republicans had overseen elections in which former GOP presidential candidates handily won.Īrizona state Senate President Karen Fann, a Republican, has repeatedly defended the audit, saying it's necessary to ensure confidence in the state's elections.
Arizona Election Audit Mocked by Maricopa County Chairman.Arizona GOP Official Says Family Threatened Over 2020 Election Integrity.Michael Flynn, One America News Employees Paid Over $1.5M for Arizona Audit.But there was a point where he could not keep silent, he said.
He also pointed out that he initially held back, choosing not to speak out as election challenge lawsuits went through the courts. The county official explained at length how he had campaigned for Trump, as had his family. "At this point, I hope my principal motivation for speaking out is abundantly clear: the Ninja audit is an abomination that has so far eroded election confidence and defamed good people," Richer wrote in his letter to fellow Republicans. But GOP officials in Maricopa have regularly criticized the inaccurate information being reported by the Florida-based company and Republican state senators. The Cyber Ninjas audit, which was commissioned by Arizona's GOP-controlled state Senate, is winding down. Stephen Richer, Maricopa's county recorder, issued the scathing letter outlining the reasons why the Republican-backed audit is flawed and driven by misinformation promoted by Trump and his allies. A Republican official from Arizona's Maricopa County blasted former President Donald Trump's baseless election fraud claims in a detailed 38-page letter to fellow members of the GOP, describing the controversial Cyber Ninjas audit in the state's most populous county as "an abomination."