The Arizona "audit" finally seems to be wrapping up. Prepare for a blizzard of disinformation.

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.vox.com/22609910/maricopa-county-2020-election-audit-final-report-preview

Cyber Ninjas — the company running the GOP’s so-called “audit” of the 2020 election results in Maricopa County, Arizona — is expected to finally release a report summarizing its findings sometime in the next few weeks. But if past is precedent, the document will likely leave people in a fog of confusion.

That’s because the “audit,” which began in April at the behest of the state’s GOP-controlled Senate and is being paid for by a variety of far-right, pro-Trump sources, was never intended to be a good-faith investigation of election practices. On the contrary, it’s always been about bolstering Donald Trump’s lies about the election with false and misleading claims, then using them as a pretext to impose new voting restrictions aimed at giving Republicans an edge in future elections, including a possible Trump 2024 presidential run.

Inevitably, that means Cyber Ninjas will make claims just plausible enough to get credulous coverage from pro-Trump media, even if the claims can’t withstand scrutiny from impartial fact-checkers. Those claims can then be amplified by elected Republicans who won’t let facts get in the way of their narrative. Consider the dynamic at work in Tucker Carlson’s recent attempts to blame the FBI for the January 6 insurrection — a claim that was quickly debunked but was nonetheless touted by members of Congress like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz.

Comments made last month by Doug Logan, CEO of Cyber Ninjas, gave up the game. During a briefing that took place after most “audit” operations were completed, Logan, who is running the Maricopa County operation even though last winter he posted conspiracy theories about the election being stolen from Trump, claimed, “We have 74,243 mail-in ballots where there is no clear record of them being sent.” That’s a big-if-true allegation that would constitute significant evidence of malfeasance of the sort Trump claimed enabled Joe Biden to beat him in Arizona and other states.

*snip*

[JohnSJ]

1. Cyber ninjas needs to have their ass sued for everything they have got

[PortTack]

2. The only ones that are going to buy this will be the cult

They can shout whatever from the hill tops, It isn’t going to change any Dems or independents minds

[NJCher]

3. Cue Jim Acosta.

Eom

[Wounded Bear]

4. Plus, they've compromised all of the evidence...

so there would be no way to disprove their bullshit.

[Harker]

5. +33.

That anything was handed over to these partisan fiends is nauseating.

[crickets]

9. I wonder if there's a way to charge them for how blatantly incompetent they are.

Their behavior involved deliberate malfeasance resulting in the what is essentially the destruction of ballots. Not only should Cyber Ninjas be stripped of any legitimacy, they should be punished for putting the country through their politically motivated clown show.

[lees1975]

6. The County Supervisors already debunked the "74,243 mail in ballot" lie

As it turns out, the claim made by Cyber Ninjas that they couldn't find evidence that 74,243 mail in ballots were ever actually mailed was due to their incompetence in not being able to discern between mail-in ballots and early voting ballots where, ironically, 74,243 people had voted in person, using the ballots mailed to them.

There are now two Republicans who have come out to the effect that the audit was a botch and is not credible, adding to the Democrats who already felt that way, that's a majority of the senators. Like every other claim of massive voter fraud, what is coming to light is the fact that there was no massive voter fraud.

[Grins]

10. YES!!!! Beat me to it.

Editorial in Arizona Republic(?) tore them a new one for being so blazingly STUPID about how the election process works.

[Wounded Bear]

11. Everybody who wasn't swilling the Trumper Kool-aid knew it was a fraud from the start...

[Initech]

7. Got my comically oversized bucket of popcorn and 3-D glasses ready!

[Mad_Machine76]

8. Can't wait to see

if they ever found the Bamboo fibers

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

12. Waiting for the Jewish space laser, Italian spy satellite & Chinese thermostat conspiracy

You know it's coming.