Former President Donald Trump claimed victory on Wednesday after a judge in Arizona refused to stop the ongoing audit of votes in Maricopa County by the state Senate:
But it’s more complicated than that. . .
The judge also ordered that the company performing the audit, Cyber Ninjas, may not keep secret what they’re doing:
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge has *denied* Cyber Ninjas request to have their processes for the #azaudit done under seal
— Matt Galka Fox 10 (@MattGalkaFox10) April 28, 2021
Cyber Ninjas has until noon today to appeal:
This means the processes have to be made public. Judge has stayed the order until tomorrow at noon, giving Cyber Ninjas time to appeal
— Matt Galka Fox 10 (@MattGalkaFox10) April 28, 2021
But it was a loss for Dems who had wanted to stop the entire thing:
Judge has *denied* TRO #AZAudit
— Matt Galka Fox 10 (@MattGalkaFox10) April 28, 2021
Judge says plaintiffs haven’t shown enough evidence that there will be/is harm to voters/ballots. Restraining order won’t be granted
— Matt Galka Fox 10 (@MattGalkaFox10) April 28, 2021
But it also means that the state’s Dem Secretary of State will now have access to the audit site:
One other thing – Secretary of State Katie Hobbs’ office was granted access to audit site. Judge wants that worked out by 5 today or motion can be filed in court tomorrow #azaudit #fox10phoenix
— Matt Galka Fox 10 (@MattGalkaFox10) April 28, 2021
One of the outstanding issues has to do with what exactly auditors are looking for when they were spotted examining ballots with an ultraviolet flashlight. The TL;DR version of this article is that nobody knows:
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Alright, everyone, I did it.
I wrote an entire story about the UV flashlights and what the auditors could be looking for on Maricopa County ballots.
All of the theories, unpacked, here: https://t.co/xWgZbuy1AR @azcentral
— Jen Fifield (@JenAFifield) April 29, 2021
The county says there are no watermarks on the ballots:
A question we’ve been getting a lot today is about @MaricopaCounty ballots. Did you know there are NO watermarks on @MaricopaCounty ballots? Get more facts like this in our @MaricopaVote “Just the Facts” updates: https://t.co/W3dDhpcO6O pic.twitter.com/V5rZv02nuH
— Maricopa County Elections Department (@MaricopaVote) April 27, 2021
Another outstanding issue is who is funding the audit. The state Senate is reportedly covering $150,000 of costs and there’s an ongoing fundraising effort for the rest:
Big win in AZ for the AZ senate! Dem’s request for a rest order is denied. Auditors have just a few weeks left to complete the hand recount. It is not fully funded yet. Please help get this audit across the finish line! https://t.co/EGUIFN8h7W
— Christina Bobb (@christina_bobb) April 28, 2021
They want to raise a total of $2.8 million:
Also despite Doug Logan refusing to say how much the audit would cost or how much his company, Cyber Ninjas, has brought in, they are hoping to raise $2.8 million(!!). The Senate contract was for $150,000. pic.twitter.com/dVPhHcP6WH
— Dillon Rosenblatt (@DillonReedRose) April 29, 2021
And, finally, there’s a chance they won’t even finish the audit in time as the building they’re using is needed for upcoming high school graduation ceremonies:
The exact number of votes counted in the #AZAudit is unknown, but according to #azauditpool reports – Ken Bennett maintains his “just shy of 100k” counted he said at a news conference yesterday. They have until May 14th at the coliseum. That’s still 2 million votes to be counted
— Matt Galka Fox 10 (@MattGalkaFox10) April 28, 2021
What happens if they’re not done? ??♂️ but they gotta be out because Phoenix Union High School District has graduations there starting the 17th. They’ve been “assured by the Coliseum that graduations will move forward, as scheduled.” #AZAudit
— Matt Galka Fox 10 (@MattGalkaFox10) April 28, 2021
Need to average just under 118k votes counted every day to meet deadline
— Matt Galka Fox 10 (@MattGalkaFox10) April 28, 2021
We’ll keep you posted.
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