PA election audit a fruitless effort

On Jan. 5, the Arizona Mirror, Arizona’s Independent News Organization, reported that nearly every claim that the state Senate audit firm made about the “fraudulent, stolen” 2020 Arizona General Election for president was either inaccurate, misleading, or patently false, according to a long awaited rebuttal by Maricopa County. (Also reported by AXIOS, CNN, New York Times and more)
The Maricopa County five-member Board of Supervisors, (four Republicans, one Democrat), delivered a four-hour detailed rebuttal of all the audit firm’s claims. The rebuttal showed that all but one of 76 claims involving 50 votes were either misleading, (22), inaccurate, (41), or false, (13), as posted on the Maricopa County Elections Department website. (recorder.maricopa.gov/site/faq.aspx )
The Audit Firm, Florida based Cyber Ninjas, abruptly shut down when a Superior Court judge cited Cyber Ninjas for contempt, after it refused to surrender records of its vote review to the Arizona Republic under a Freedom of Information request. (AXIOS Tampa Bay; and Sarasota Herald Tribune).
The judge levied a $50,000 a day fine on the firm until it produces the records. Lawyers for the firm say it is insolvent, and has laid off all its employees including CEO Doug Logan, and may file for bankruptcy.
The six-month review of the 2.1 million votes cost the state $5.6 million, was ordered up by the Republican controlled state Senate, and is now rebuked by the Republican controlled Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. This was a costly event in terms of money spent, unproductive time invested by public officials, and it is now laced with in-party fighting. On May 18, the board of supervisors stated on MSNBC, “Our state has become a laughingstock.”

The Pennsylvania Department of State required a Risk-Limiting Audit of the 2020 Election. Pennsylvania is one of the first states in the nation to pioneer the RLA (vote.pa.gov). Results were posted Feb. 5, 2021, headline: “Audit Finds Strong Evidence of Accurate Count” (media.pa.gov). Regardless, a group of Republican state senators continues on the Arizona path of wasting significant time and financial resources, for an audit and “forensic investigation” of the election held now 15 months ago.
Here however, the group has subpoenaed significant personal information about Pennsylvania’s 7 million voters.
It is time to stop the significant waste of time and financial resources on this fruitless effort. Our senators should get back to what it was that they were elected to do. In the process, they’ll have the opportunity to polish their reputations, and their historical legacies for generations to come.
Terry A. Hueneke, New Hope

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