Excerpts from a Seattle Times editorial (read it here):
“The far right’s undermining of American elections is an ongoing threat to the nation’s future. An Arizona state Senate-commissioned ‘audit’ of November ballots is not just a regional farce, but an escalation against democratic processes.”
“Republican-controlled legislatures in Florida, Iowa, Texas, Georgia and elsewhere are dangerously politicizing elections management …. Arizona’s move stands out as egregious. The GOP Senate leadership trampled elections guidelines and common sense … [and] gave private contractor Cyber Ninjas a mission to reveal vote irregularities ….”
“Cyber Ninjas is no impartial referee. Its CEO fed the election-conspiracy lies that former President Donald Trump used to whip up the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. … Whatever Cyber Ninjas purports to find … cannot be trusted.”
“No state should accept the idea of forking over … records to a private operator to destroy trust in the outcome. In practice, Arizona has invented a process for legislators to throw out election results …. Arizona’s dubious ‘audit’ breaches … a sacred trust ….”
“Washington, like other states, has well established policy for handling disputed elections. Publicly managed recounts happen with observers from all parties free to witness. Arizona’s sketchy system … clouds voter trust.”
As I previously wrote here and here, this fake “audit” is a sham, concocted by liars and false conspiracy theory peddlers, deliberately conducted out of view of journalists and impartial observers, and nobody should believe anything that Republicans will claim it “revealed.”