Replies

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H9e693kbT2At8uikfO7xikq6eIjAC1e4/edit

Executive Summary

The preamble to our Constitution reminds us that our nation is always pursuing greater perfection, seeking to establish “… a more perfect Union” so that we can “...secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”. Nothing is more essential in establishing liberty than free and fair elections. To that end, Cyber Ninjas was engaged by the Arizona Senate to audit the 2020 General Election and determine in what areas legislative reform may enhance our current process so that our elections may continue to get better, becoming “more perfect”. In doing so, it was our goal to restore faith in American elections by either proving the results valid or identifying areas where legislation could resolve any identified issues.

This audit has been the most comprehensive and complex election audit ever conducted. It involved the hand counting of 2.1 million ballots, a forensic paper inspection of all ballots, a forensic review of the voting machines, and an in-depth analysis of the voter rolls and the 2020 General Election final files.

What has been found is both encouraging and alarming. On the positive side there were no substantial differences between the hand count of the ballots provided and the official canvass results for the County. This is an important finding because of concerns ahead of the audit.

However, while it is encouraging for voters, it does not allay all of the concerns:

- None of the various systems related to elections had numbers that would balance and agree with each other. In some cases, these differences were significant.

- There appears to be many ballots cast from individuals who had moved prior to the election.

-Files were missing from the Election Management System (EMS) Server.

- Ballot images on the EMS were corrupt or missing.

- Logs appeared to be intentionally rolled over, and all the data in the database related to the 2020 General Election had been fully cleared.

- On the ballot side, batches were not always clearly delineated, duplicated ballots were missing the required serial numbers, originals were duplicated more than once, and the Auditors were never provided Chain-of-Custody documentation for the ballots for the time-period prior to the ballot’s movement into the Auditors’ care. This all increased the complexity and difficulty in properly auditing the results; and added ambiguity into the final conclusions.

Had Maricopa County chosen to cooperate with the audit, the majority of these obstacles would have easily been overcome. By the County withholding subpoena items, their unwillingness to answer questions as is normal between auditor and auditee, and in some cases actively interfering with audit research, the County prevented a complete audit. This did not stop the primary goal of offering recommendations for legislative reform to the Arizona Senate, but it did leave many questions open as to the way and manner that the 2020 General Election was conducted. As a result, while many areas of concern were specifically identified, our full audit results validating the 2020 General Election are necessarily inconclusive.

Furthermore, there are sufficient discrepancies among the different systems that, in conjunction with some of our findings, suggest that the delta between the Presidential candidates is very close to the potential margin-of-error for the election. It is recommended that legislative reform be passed that tightens up the election process to provide additional certainty to elections going forward and that several specific findings of our audit be further reviewed by the Arizona Attorney General for a possible investigation.