By Nathan Layne

(Reuters) – Arizona Republican senators who commissioned an audit of the 2020 presidential election will announce their findings on Friday, concluding a widely criticized effort spurred by Donald Trump’s false claims of widespread electoral fraud.

State lawmakers will announce the findings of what they call a “forensic auditor” on the loss of President Trump in Maricopa (Arizona’s largest county) at noon local time. This is five months since the Republican-led Senate initiated the audit.

An array of election professionals, Democrats and Republican officials rejected the audit, claiming it to be a highly partisan boondoggle by non-relevant contractors out to prove Trump’s victory last November.

Trump’s Republican Party allies have eagerly awaited the publication, which they hope will be used to justify other “forensic” investigations of battleground states like Pennsylvania and Michigan that were conducted by contractors without relevant expertise.

Trump predicted that the report would support his claims of fraud. Trump and his supporters have not produced any such evidence.

Trump lost Arizona to Biden by just more than 10,000 votes. The narrow victory was confirmed in a hand counting and numerous post-election checks for accuracy. Maricopa County, which also includes Phoenix, conducted an independent audit to confirm that the vote was secure and accurate.

Cyber Ninjas was chosen by the Republican-led Arizona Senate to conduct the most recent review of Maricopa County’s 2.1 Million votes. It is an unknown firm that has never audited elections and whose owner Doug Logan supports conspiracy theories.

Criticisms have described the practices used to audit as inappropriate and even bizarre. Counters marked ballots in blue ink which could alter their reading by machines. Workers also checked for bamboo fibers. These were based upon a conspiracy theory that ballots that had been forged may have been imported from Asia.

Although the audit was scheduled to be completed by May 1, it is now taking place at a slower pace than originally planned. Logan and his colleagues were infected recently with the coronavirus.

There have been alarming reports about the financial backers of the audit. Logan announced in June that outside groups linked to Trump’s supporters had raised over $5.7million for the audit. That is more than $150,000 beyond the contribution of the Arizona Senate.

Leading Republicans have been split in this review, with Trump supporters battling Maricopa County officials that repeatedly defend the accuracy of the election results.

Stephen Richer, Maricopa’s County Recorder, issued a 38-page critique of the audit and explains why he thinks the 2020 results were valid.

“Nobody stole Maricopa County’s election. Elections in Maricopa County aren’t rigged,” wrote Richer, a Republican who says he campaigned and voted for Trump.

Arizona Secretary-of-State Katie Hobbs was a Democrat. She also published a preemptive rebuttal. This 122-page statement blasted the audit and alleged lapses of security, transparency, organization, as well as delays.

Hobbs claimed that Cyber Ninjas did not understand election procedures, and called their conclusions “invalidated and unreliable.”

An advisory was posted for the event that stated the auditors will deliver the report to Senator President Karen Fann, and to Warren Petersen (Senate Judiciary Committee Chair), both Republicans who spearheaded the review of the election. It stated that media will not have the right to question at the hearing. The proceedings will be streamed live on YouTube.

Reporting by Nathan Layne, Wilton Connecticut. Editing by Soyoung KIM and Sonya HEPINSTAL.