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Monday, April 12, 2021 | 2 a.m.
Don’t take a look at the bias — that’s not what actually issues.
So claims Doug Logan, CEO of the agency Cyber Ninjas that’s enjoying at auditing Maricopa County’s elections as a contractor for Arizona’s state Senate Republicans. Logan put out a press release final week responding to what he termed the “spurious clamor over bias insinuations.”
I appreciated the enjoyable phrase alternative, nevertheless it couldn’t cowl up his conclusion: He could also be biased, however that doesn’t matter as a result of the audit might be so, so good.
These aren’t his exact phrases, however they have been the gist of his which means when he mentioned, “The massive query shouldn’t be ‘Am I biased,’ however ‘Will this audit be clear, truthful and correct?’ The reply to the latter query is a convincing ‘Sure.’ ”
In fact, the Arizona Senate Republicans’ so-called audit of the presidential election in Maricopa County is useless on arrival. In an effort to appease the GOP conspiracy caucus, state Senate President Karen Fann and her sidekick, Sen. Warren Petersen, have chosen a staff that has no credibility with anybody however conservative election conspiracists.
For the remainder of the state’s inhabitants, this audit is only a last sideshow of the Trump circus, finest ignored or jeered at, however actually not believed.
First think about the truth that Logan’s agency is neither auditors nor election specialists, although they’ve been employed to conduct an election audit. They’re a “cybersecurity firm,” as Logan famous in his letter, that focuses on “risk modeling.”
So not solely is the corporate biased, it doesn’t have related expertise to audit an election, until you’re the form of one who thinks Hugo Chavez manipulated our election machines from the grave.
The bias grew to become clear instantly after Cyber Ninjas was chosen to steer this audit. The Arizona Mirror first revealed that, after the presidential election, Logan made tweets and repeated these of others, associating himself with the “Cease the Steal” motion. That’s the motion began by Trump fanatics who believed his declare that the election was stolen from him.
Logan himself tweeted, “The parallels between the statistical evaluation of Venezuela and this yr’s election are astonishing. I’m ashamed about how few republicans are speaking about it.”
He additionally retweeted feedback questioning Arizona’s election by Ron Watkins, a key particular person on the conspiracist proper. Watkins is without doubt one of the individuals behind the QAnon conspiracy idea that satanic pedophile cabals run the nation. He additionally had a key position in initiating and spreading conspiracy theories about Dominion Voting Programs, the corporate whose tools was utilized in Maricopa County.
So, Logan is biased, however at the very least he had the honesty to not directly admit it.
This issues not simply in Phoenix, however everywhere in the state. Think about legislators sad with election outcomes in Graham County or Navajo County — the state might bully these small counties way more simply than it may Maricopa County.
Fortuitously, Fann and Petersen, who can be an election conspiracist, are going through huge pushback from the Republican majority of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. The Phoenix press and others are additionally declaring the numerous elephants within the room.
Take this worrisome paragraph from Cyber Ninjas’ “assertion of labor,” submitted to the state Senate: “The Registration and Votes Forged Crew has labored along with quite a lot of people to carry out nonpartisan canvassing inside Arizona associated to the 2020 Normal election as a way to statistically establish voter registrations that didn’t make sense, after which knock on doorways to substantiate if legitimate voters really lived on the said tackle. This introduced forth quite a lot of vital anomalies suggesting vital issues within the voter rolls.”
So this cybersecurity firm, earlier than even receiving the Arizona contract, was door-knocking within the Phoenix space asking voters about their registration and votes. What the heck?
A staff of three Arizona regulation corporations, representing a bunch referred to as Shield Democracy, despatched Cyber Ninjas a cease-and-desist letter telling them and their subcontractors to cease, or else.
“These techniques — regardless of their intent — represent unlawful voter intimidation and would possibly expose your corporations to each civil and prison penalties,” the letter mentioned.
When Cyber Ninjas despatched a four-page listing of inquiries to Maricopa County, Board of Supervisors Chairman Jack Sellers, a Republican, instructed them politely to stuff it. He famous that Maricopa County has carried out election audits that have been bipartisan and clear, and that the county approved two different forensic examinations of its machines. All the pieces got here out clear.
“A lot of your auditors’ questions could be answered by reviewing the Election Procedures Guide, the early vote and election day plans, in addition to the facility factors from the listening to that occurred final yr earlier than the Senate Judiciary Committee. We recommend the Cyber Ninjas start by reviewing these gadgets, watching the listening to, and reviewing the Arizona statutes governing elections.”
Cyber Ninjas’ questions “present an entire lack of familiarity with the system,” mentioned former Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes. “They present an abject lack of preparation.”
Fontes, by the way in which, is a Democrat who helped run the 2020 election in Maricopa County and nonetheless misplaced his election, a end result that would appear to puncture any election-rigging idea.
“We adopted every part to a T,” Fontes mentioned. “The query turns into, are we going by way of this clown present each election cycle? Are we going to have sore losers upsetting religion in democracy as a result of they didn’t like the end result?”
We would have the ability to keep away from future clown exhibits if we deal with this sideshow for what it’s — a farce that embarrasses Arizona.
Tim Steller is a columnist for Arizona Day by day Star.
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