The good news – someone is keeping track of the various improprieties observed at Arizona’s scandal-plagued audit of the 2020 election. The bad news – there’s a lot to keep track of: unlocked security gates, confidential manuals left out in the open, and prohibited items like cell phones in plain sight.
On Tuesday, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs – a Democrat who recently announced a gubernatorial bid – unveiled a new website that documents all the shortcomings. Hobbs won a lawsuit last month that allows her to post observers at the audit.
Hobbs’ list of observations includes the claim that organizers of the audit gave observers pink t-shirts. These observers were then mocked and called “pinkies” or “pinkos.” In one instance, audit spokesman and former state Republican Party chairman Randy Pullen told an observer that his pink T-shirt made him “look like a transgender.”
Hobbs’ office also observed blue and black pens on the audit floor – a major no-no since they can be used to alter ballots.
Other infractions include unauthorized people “rifling through thousands of military and overseas ballots” and a failure to use key updates to the audit’s software.
The audit has been dubious since its inception. The company hired to conduct it – Florida-based Cyber Ninjas – is owned by a man who shared Stop The Steal conspiracy theories on social media. The Washington Post provides more context:
Fueling the speculation have been the unorthodox practices of the contractors, who have been conducting physical examinations of the ballots, including inspecting their weight and thickness and examining folds on ballots under microscopes. At one point, workers were holding ballots up to UV lights.
It’s unclear why the weight of a ballot is relevant, but the UV lights were apparently used to search for bamboo fibers. Presence of bamboo, according to a conspiracy theory, would indicate that ballots were shipped from Asia.