Election Audit Raised 'Serious Questions': AZ Attorney General

PHOENIX, AZ — The Arizona Attorney General's office is planning a "thorough review" of the Maricopa County 2020 Election audit.

Attorney General Mark Brnovich's Election Integrity Unit on Monday asked Maricopa County to "preserve all documents and data related to the 2020 election." The unit also requested audit supporting documents from the state Senate.

“The Arizona Senate’s report that was released on Friday raises some serious questions regarding the 2020 election,”Brnovich said in a press release. “Arizonans can be assured our office will conduct a thorough review of the information we receive.”

Brnovich failed to elaborate on what questions he was referring to. His office did not immediately respond to a request from Patch for clarification.

In their presentations on Friday, auditors did not focus so much on the vote counts as they did on what they saw as issues with election practices and procedures in the county and the storage of data after the election.

Senate President Karen Fann, who ordered the audit, expressed hope that Brnovich could get his hands on information that Maricopa County refused to supply to Cyber Ninjas. The Maricopa County board has continually said it would not cooperate with the audit run by Cyber Ninjas, as the company had no previous experience in running or auditing elections and its CEO previously spread pro-Trump conspiracy theories. Chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Jack Sellers called presentation on the audit report "irresponsible and dangerous."

The report on the audit was presented to the state Senate Friday.

The audit, ordered by Senate Republicans, was a monthslong effort born out of former President Donald Trump's claims that the 2020 Election was somehow stolen from him.

The audit recount however, found that President Joe Biden actually won Maricopa County by more votes than indicated in the official canvass. The audit recount found that Biden won Maricopa County by 45,469 votes, while the official canvass said Biden won the county by 45,109 votes.

Even though the audit did not find decisive evidence that any sort of fraud influenced Biden's win, Fann promised she would ask Brnovich to review the audit and "take the appropriate actions."