Sometime on Monday, a draft report will be submitted by Cyber Ninjas to Senate President Karen Fann concerning the months-long audit of Maricopa County’s handling of the 2020 General Election.
The confidential draft will then be reviewed by Fann’s handpicked audit report team, which includes Senate Liaison Ken Bennett, Sen. Warren Petersen of the Senate’s Judiciary Committee, and others appointed to the team by Fann.
Bennett, a former Arizona Secretary of State and Senate President, told Arizona Daily Independent on Sunday he expects the draft report “to be extensive.” And he believes it could take the review team a few weeks to validate Cyber Ninjas’ report for accurate facts and evidence, rather than opinions and unvetted observations.
That is why, Bennett said, “the biggest thing will be patience” while the draft report is reviewed. And it will be vital for the report review team “to be very careful” to ensure the final report issued to the full Senate and the public cannot be misinterpreted.
Bennett came to be known during the audit process for his even-temperedness, but his frustration with self-proclaimed audit critics has flared up in the last few days. In particular is his comments about a 46-page report released last week by Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, which refers to the Senate’s audit as a “partisan review” of the general election in Maricopa County.
According to Bennett, Hobbs report is filled with “numerous inaccuracies.” He also contends 9 of the 12 areas of concern noted by Hobbs in her report’s executive summary “are entirely or partially incorrect, are opinions, or are supposed conclusions” which Bennett says the SOS does not have the information to substantiate.
He also strongly disputes “most of the specific concerns” about his role as the Senate’s audit liaison, but Bennett’s harshest comments focus on fact Hobbs issued such a report at this time.
Bennett says the “most stunning aspect” of the Hobbs’ report “is its arrogant presumption to criticize an audit whose fundings haven’t even been released yet.”
Among the most anticipated report data is Cyber Ninjas’ vote tally in the presidential race compared to Maricopa County’s official vote count. Bennett said the Senate’s audit review team will likely consider election information received from outside Cyber Ninjas, such as a machine count undertaken to validate the number of ballots cast by voters during the election.
That count is one which Bennett advocated to be performed by a company independent of any audit team members, but instead Fann allowed Assistant Audit Liaison Randy Pullen and one of Cyber Ninjas’ attorneys to be involved.
Another question will be how the Senate’s final report addresses areas of the election that could not be analyzed or verified due to Maricopa County’s decision to not turn over its routers used in connection with the Nov. 3 election as demanded in two Senate subpoenas.
The final audit report may also provide the public with additional information concerning a cyberattack on Maricopa County’s voter registration system, which county officials confirmed was turned over to the FBI during the election. A search warrant executed at a Fountain Hills residence resulted in the seizure of various computers and data devices, but there has been no indication of criminal charges being filed.
Bennett expects the Senate to keep the public informed as the review of the draft report progresses. He and Fann have said there is no deadline for issuing the final report.
In a related matter, the Arizona Supreme Court issued an emergency stay on Aug. 20 so that Fann and the Senate do not have to comply with an order from the Arizona Court of Appeals to turn over what is expected to be thousands of documents -mostly likely emails and attachments- related to the audit.
Fann has petitioned the Supreme Court for review of the appellate ruling that a public records request by American Oversight which seeks audit-related documents possessed by Cyber Ninjas and other audit contractors.
A decision on whether the justices will review the case is expected this week.