Some Republicans in Arizona are starting to worry that the controversial Trump-backed audit of the 2.1 million ballots cast in Maricopa county in the 2020 presidential election could damage the party in the future.
According to Politico, Republicans are speaking out to warn that the amateurish conduct of the audit and the conspiracy theories it has amplified could damage the party’s chances of winning back one of the two Senate seats they lost to Democrats and defend an open seat for governor in 2022.
“First of all, you do need to get to a point where you say, ‘Okay, we’re done. We have sufficiently addressed concerns that might be out there in the community.’ And I feel like we had gotten to that point,” Bill Gates, a Republican Maricopa County supervisor told Politico.
“I believe that this is only appealing to a certain segment of the Republican Party. I think there are many Republicans who are horrified by what’s going on. I think there are very few independents who aren’t horrified by what’s going on. But it’s not too late,” Gates added.
Some had hoped that the loss of two Senate seats and a presidential election under Trump would be a wake-up call. But, so far the state’s GOP is digging in and defending the audit which has devolved into a circus.
“We are preparing for the 2022 elections, and we believe that fighting for election integrity will benefit our candidates in 2022,” the state party chairwoman Kelli Ward said. She criticized the media for focusing on “former Republicans and a few current Republicans who question the audit.”
“Let the audit continue, and then we can talk about the results,” Ward added.
The GOP-controlled state Senate subpoenaed ballots from Maricopa County, earlier this year and hired Cyber Ninjas, a florida-based firm run by a man who has a history of spreading pro-Trump conspiracy theories about the election and has no experience handling election related issues.
Republicans in Arizona have said that the audit would help them write new election laws and restore trust in the state’s election system after Trump lost by 10,000 votes in the presidential election.
Aside from the political ramifications, election administrators and security experts are also concerned it will further erode trust in the election and open the door to more unwarranted challenges to future elections, in the state and elsewhere, Politico reports.
A coalition of election experts wrote the Justice Department asking it to send observers to monitor the audit after it was revealed in a document laying out the process for examining ballots that workers are required to place ballots “under UV-B and UV-A source” to compare the illuminated ballots to “representative specimens.”
They fear that that “ultraviolet light causes not only paper to deteriorate, but also leads to the deterioration of marks on paper ballots.”
“This is not an audit. It’s not even a recount,” Tammy Patrick, a former Maricopa County elections official told Politico .“If we continue to indulge this kind of activity, we will not be living in a true, healthy democracy.”
