Nathan Layne

(Reuters) – Officials from Arizona’s largest county found that nearly all conclusions in a partisan “audit” of Donald Trump’s 2020 loss were misleading or false according to Wednesday’s official rebuttal.

This 93-page Maricopa County Elections Department report attempts to answer dozens of Trump-related claims in its so-called “fullforensic audit”, which was designed to cast doubt on Trump’s defeat in the battleground.

While the Republican-led review last year had been widely discredited in election circles as flawed and biased, this report entitled “Correcting The Record”, was the first comprehensive response from county officials.

The report states that “nearly every finding” included flawed analysis, incorrect claims, misleading conclusions, and a lack understanding of federal or state election laws. Cyber Ninjas was contracted to audit the Arizona Republican Senators.

The report revealed that 22 of the claims were false, 41 were flawed or misunderstood, and 13 were clearly false.

President Joe Biden (a Democrat) won Maricopa County which encompasses Phoenix by 45,000 votes. It was crucial for his narrow victory over Donald Trump in 2020. Biden won by hand counting and numerous post-election accuracy tests. The widespread fraud Trump and his associates claimed was not proven.

Karen Fann, Arizona Senate President, was the Republican leader. She pushed for comprehensive reviews of the election that included hand counting and an examination of tabulation equipment. The final report was released in September. Although it found the official vote count to be largely accurate, several anomalies were noted.

The Cyber Ninjas, for example, used data from a commercial third-party database to prove that 33,000 voters may have illegally voted because they had moved before the election and are no longer living at the addresses on the file.

Cyber Ninjas, according to county reports, flagged issues by using soft match methods. These relied on basic data like first, last, and birth years, leading to misidentifications of voters.

According to the report, “We found no proof of double voting and did not discover any voter who is ineligible to vote at their address during November 2020 General Election.”

Arizona’s partisan audit came as part of an overall Republican effort to reduce faith in 2020 and take more control over elections. Since the election, several Republican-controlled state legislatures have passed laws curbing ballot access or placing great power over election administration in the hands of partisan officials.

Maricopa County election officials will present the results of their report to the public at the Wednesday meeting of the County Board of Supervisors.

Reporting by Nathan Layne, Wilton Connecticut. Editing by Cynthia Osterman