Judge will not block Arizona Senate’s 2020 election recount
(KYMA, KECY/ AP News) - Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Daniel Martin decided Wednesday that the Republican-led audit of ballots from the 2020 Presidential election will continue.
After suing to block the audit, Democrats pushed for the audit to be blocked completely. Yet, the decision still turned out to be a win and a loss for Democrats because allowing the audit to continue comes with some conditions.
The private company, Cyber Ninjas, hired by the Republican-led State Senate must make its procedures public in order to guarantee the privacy of voters and the secrecy of their choices.
Capitol Media Services
PHOENIX Arizonans are entitled to see the policies and procedures being used in the Senate s audit of the 2020 election returns, a judge has ruled.
At a hearing Wednesday, attorney Kory Langhofer who represents the Senate, argued there are constitutional provisions that protect lawmakers from being sued. He argued these extend to work being done on behalf of the Senate by Cyber Ninjas, the private firm hired by Senate President Karen Fann to conduct the review on the Senate s behalf.
And Langhofer said even if there are questions about the how the audit is being conducted there s no need for judicial intervention.
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While there hasn t been much transparency from the contractors attempting to audit Maricopa County s general election results, they are shining a light on the ballots. But why?
There are theories such as the workers are searching for watermarks, yellow dots, fold marks, and certain fibers but no clear answers.
Workers hired by the Arizona Senate s main contractor, Cyber Ninjas, are shining what appears to be an ultraviolet flashlight on each ballot. This observation is based on views from the audit livestream at azaudit.org and journalists who now have access inside the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where the audit is happening.
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A judge has rejected an attempt to keep secret the procedures used to recount the 2.1 million ballots cast by Maricopa County voters.
Cyber Ninjas, the Florida-based firm hired by the Arizona Senate to oversee the hand recount, had sought to keep the public from learning the details of how it is conducting the work. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Daniel Martin said those details should be heard in open court, however.
While the decision could soon give the public a much broader understanding of the process than it has had since the recount began on Friday, Martin also allowed the Senate s audit to continue without any additional rules or restrictions.