Name: First day of Arizona Senate election audit nearly stopped before it began. Here's what happened
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First day of Arizona Senate election audit nearly stopped before it began. Here's what happened

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Arizona RepublicView CommentsThe first day of an unprecedented recount of every ballot cast by Maricopa County voters during last year's general election almost did not happen Friday.A court battle nearly stopped it. And, as the recount was starting, officials seemed to be figuring out rules and training on the fly. Later, the daily press briefings that were promised were placed on an indefinite&nbsp;hiatus.What was clear is that the 2.1 million ballots the Republican-controlled state Senate obtained through a subpoena are now fully in the custody of a Florida-based company called Cyber Ninjas. Rows of pallets piled high with boxes were surrounded by a fence on the floor of the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.Many questions still remain unanswered, among them: Who will do the counting? Who will pay for the process? The head of Cyber Ninjas would not say when he spoke to reporters before the recount began. And, as of now, reporters can't go back inside to film or photograph the process.Those uncertainties&nbsp;created a concern&nbsp;about the procedures for&nbsp;a judge, who ordered the Arizona Senate to "pause" its recount but only if the state Democratic Party, which asked for the halt, could post a $1 million bond to cover any costs from the delay.The party said it would not put up the money to stop the recount, however, after bringing a last-minute lawsuit with County Supervisor Steve Gallardo charging that the process violated state election laws.During a court hearing on Friday, an attorney for Gallardo and the state Democratic Party argued the Senate and the companies it has hired to run the audit do not have adequate policies or procedures in place to conduct a recount in accordance with Arizona law.The attorney, Roopali Desai, pointed to security breaches at the coliseum and the use of blue pens by recount workers, even though state election procedures specifically call for using red ink that cannot tamper with ballots.Superior Court Judge Christopher Coury ordered that the recount fully comply with Arizona law and asked the Senate, as well&nbsp;as its contractors, to provide more information on policies and procedures for a hearing on Monday morning."I do not want to micromanage and it is not the posture of this court to micromanage — or even to manage — the process by which another branch of government, the Legislature, the Arizona state Senate, proceeds," Coury said."However, it is the province of the court to ensure voter information and those constitutional protections are held sacrosanct and that also includes the protection of ballots under Arizona law."The audit could have stopped until Monday if the state Democratic Party posted the bond Coury set.Arizona Democratic Party Chair Raquel Terán said she would not risk supporters’ money when the Senate has not disclosed the real cost of the audit. But she said the order still amounted to a victory, as it would require the Senate and its contractors to disclose more about the process for the recount.“Today’s temporary restraining order required that the Cyber Ninjas turn over all documents regarding their internal procedures, which should have been made immediately available to the public if this were a transparent or credible process,” Terán said in a statement.Who's counting? Who's paying?&nbsp;An attorney representing Cyber Ninjas asked the state Supreme Court on Friday if it could submit these documents to the court under seal, which would keep them private. The court did not rule on that question, but it signaled that the public might not get much insight soon.Meanwhile, Kory Langhofer, an attorney representing the state Senate, argued the Senate enjoys legislative immunity and cannot be sued over the recount now."Because the Legislature is in session, the legislators and their agents are immune from civil process and they're immune from any civil liability as well for their conduct in furtherance of legislative duties," he said during the hearing.And Langhofer argued that the separation of powers prevents the court from telling the Senate how to run the audit.Coury asked for written briefings on those issues but signaled concerns about how the Senate is handling the audit.During Friday's hearing, Desai noted that blue pens were distributed to workers inside the facility. But the state's election procedures manual allows only red pens. Red ink cannot be read by ballot tabulating machines. Blue ink and black ink can be read by those machines, however.The existence of the blue pens on the floor was reported by an Arizona Republic reporter who was an observer at the coliseum. Reporters are otherwise not allowed to watch the proceedings in person.“We need this audit to stop at a minimum until all the blue pens are out of the coliseum so there is no question about whether people are marking ballots as we speak with pens that can be read by tabulation machines,” Desai argued.A lawyer for Cyber Ninjas later said the blue pens were replaced with other pens.Roberts:&nbsp;Desai also pointed to security breaches at the coliseum, at least a few of which were obvious. When officials tried to lock reporters out of a press conference about the recount on Thursday evening, for example, the journalists entered the building through an unlocked door and proceeded to the floor of the coliseum where all of Maricopa County’s ballots are now stored.And a television crew from CBS 5 reported that it entered the building on several occasions during the week without anyone asking for identification or stopping them. While the building’s security became an issue in court, access to it has also become a point of contention.Unlike at county election offices, where reporters are invited inside to observe and film the proceedings, the press was not allowed to view the recount itself.Reporters can only go inside if they sign up to work six-hour shifts as observers. And observers can't have cameras or notepads of their own.A media coalition including The Arizona Republic, the Arizona Broadcasters Association and the Arizona Mirror is seeking&nbsp;their reporters’ immediate access to the coliseum to observe the audit of the ballots and tabulating equipment.“It’s clear this audit has been bought and sold by hyper partisans intent on sowing doubt," said Greg Burton, The Republic's executive editor. "Senate leaders have throttled legitimate press access and handed Arizona’s votes to conspiracy theorists.”Former Secretary of State Ken Bennett, who is serving as the Senate’s liaison during the process, said the public could see plenty via round-the-clock video of the facility that will stream online at ."You can see everything that’s happening through the cameras," he said.Bennett also said he would hold daily press briefings but later said those briefings would not resume until litigation “has been dealt with by the courts.”Doug Logan, the CEO of Cyber Ninjas, said he wants the public to be able to believe fully in the process.“It’s really, really important to us that we have integrity in the way we do this count and in the results that come out of it. And it’s really important to us that there’s full transparency in everything that we do,” Logan told reporters during a press conference on Thursday.There was still little transparency, though, about several aspects of the audit.Logan would not say who exactly will count ballots, a process overseen by the Pennsylvania-based firm Wake TSI. He said the firm has drawn primarily from former law enforcement, veterans and retirees.A Republic reporter saw former state Rep. Anthony Kern, R-Glendale, working as a counter, for example. But Logan could not commit that each team of counters would include at least one Democrat and one Republican.It also remains unclear who exactly is footing the bill for the process.The Senate contracted with Cyber Ninjas to conduct the audit and produce a report in about 60 days for $150,000.But Logan said he expected counting to last 16 days, with more than 250 people working in two shifts every day but Sundays.His company had received outside funding for the audit, Logan confirmed Thursday.Indeed, prominent supporters of former President Donald Trump have solicited donations for the audit. Former Trump administration official Christina Bobb has publicly appealed for donations and is also on site as a broadcaster for the right-wing channel One America News Network.Trump also touted the recount in a statement to supporters on Friday.Neither Bennett nor Logan would say how much the audit will cost. And Logan told reporters that he does not know who has donated to the effort.Contact Andrew Oxford at or on Twitter .View Comments

Arizona RepublicView CommentsThe first day of an unprecedented recount of every ballot cast by Maricopa County voters during last year's general election almost did not happen Friday.A court battle nearly stopped it. And, as the recount was starting, officials seemed to be figuring out rules and training on the fly. Later, the daily press briefings that were promised were placed on an indefinite&nbsp;hiatus.What was clear is that the 2.1 million ballots the Republican-controlled state Senate obtained through a subpoena are now fully in the custody of a Florida-based company called Cyber...

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Andrew Oxford

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First day of Arizona Senate election audit nearly stopped before it began. Here's what happened

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