PA Lawmakers Traveling to Arizona to Receive Briefing on Election Audit: Report
Republican lawmakers from Pennsylvania will reportedly meet with members of the Arizona legislature this week and tour the site of the Maricopa County general election audit, which is being overseen by the Arizona Senate.
“On Wednesday, a PA Delegation consisting of State Senator Doug Mastriano, State Senator Cris Dush, and State Rep. Rob Kauffman will visit the AZ Capitol to meet with members of the AZ Legislature, and then tour the AZ Audit to receive a brief from the forensic audit team,” the Arizona audit team posted on its official Twitter account.
On Wednesday, a PA Delegation consisting of State Senator Doug Mastriano, State Senator Cris Dush, and State Rep. Rob Kauffman will visit the AZ Capitol to meet with members of the AZ Legislature, and then tour the AZ Audit to receive a brief from the forensic audit team.
— Maricopa Arizona Audit (@ArizonaAudit) June 1, 2021
Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano has been one of the most outspoken lawmakers regarding election procedure changes put in place by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration, often with the approval of the state’s Supreme Court.
The state senator oversaw a meeting in Gettysburg in late November during which former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and others testified concerning what they saw as election irregularities in the Keystone State.
The Arizona audit reached a significant milestone last week, with over 1 million ballots hand-counted and reviewed.
“Great election audit news! We surpassed counting 50% of the Maricopa ballots last week. The audit continues!” the audit team tweeted on Monday.
Great election audit news! We surpassed counting 50% of the Maricopa ballots last week. The audit continues!
— Maricopa Arizona Audit (@ArizonaAudit) May 31, 2021
Approximately 2.1 million ballots were cast in Maricopa County (which encompasses the Phoenix metropolitan area) in November’s general election.
President Joe Biden won by 0.3 percent, approximately 10,500 votes, over former President Donald Trump.
Maricopa was the only county in the state to flip from red to blue from 2016 to 2020.
Despite Biden’s victory, Republicans carried every countywide office in Maricopa, save for sheriff (which an incumbent Democrat held), including flipping the county recorder and winning the open treasurer seat.
Arizona Republican Party chairwoman Kelli Ward — who is not involved with the audit, but closely monitoring it — reported in a video posted on Monday that auditors are estimating they will be finished by late June.
“We also know there has been additional discussion among the Arizona Senate and the auditors regarding the possibility of hiring a California-based election transparency group called Citizens Oversight to run an entirely electronic recount of digital images of ballots to count all votes cast for every single race on the county’s ballots,” Ward said.
“These totals could be used in every race to compare totals with official totals for Maricopa County and from the audit itself,” she added.
We honor and give our thanks and prayers today to those who died in uniform serving our nation and their families who sacrificed so much for our freedom. America’s Audit in good hands. AZGOP Chairwoman @kelliwardaz reports 1 million ballots counted #AZAUDIT #AMERICASAUDIT pic.twitter.com/D634eNyAWV
— Arizona Republican Party (@AZGOP) June 1, 2021
Ward encouraged people to ignore the torrent of negative media coverage and complaints the audit has generated.
“Don’t be fooled by their propaganda and lies,” she said. “America’s Audit is in good shape and proceeding responsibly, professionally, efficiently, effectively and on time.”
Democratic Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs has been among the most outspoken critics of the audit.
Hobbs has referred to the undertaking as the “fraudit” in tweets and wrote in an opinion piece published last week, “This entire exercise is a political stunt that has only served to cast doubt on the integrity of our elections.”
“Our state conducted the most secure election in history,” said Hobbs, who is reportedly considering a run for Arizona governor next year.
Trump commended the Arizona Senate for its decision to undertake an election audit.
The former president said, “Arizona Republican State Senators are engendering such tremendous respect, even adoration, for the great job they are doing on the Forensic Audit of the 2020 Presidential Election Scam.”
Watch the full Senate hearing on the Arizona audit here.
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