Maricopa County Republicans Calls Arizona Election Audit A ‘Sham’

The GOP-led Maricopa County Board of Supervisors called the county’s 2020 election recount a “sham” in a letter Monday.

The letter also stated that the board will no longer cooperate with the GOP state senators, whom the board accuses of making Arizona a “laughingstock.”

The board wrote: “You are photographing ballots contrary to the laws that the Senate helped enact, and you are sending those images to unidentified places and people. You have repeatedly lost control of your Twitter account, which has tweeted things that appear to be the rantings of a petulant child—not the serious statements of a serious audit.”

“I will not be responding to any more requests from this sham process. Finish your audit and be ready to defend what you’re finding in a court of law,” said Chairman Jack Sellers (R) during a meeting of the board on Monday.

The letter, in many ways, echoes attempts by other local GOP officials – like Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) – to back former President Donald Trump’s disproven claims about an unfair, rigged 2020 election.

Local officials aren’t the only ones backing Trump; many national GOP elected officials have also stood by the former president’s claims about election fraud. Many those same officials have been quiet about the events of Jan. 6, when hundreds of Trump supporters led a Capitol insurrection.

Trump himself has commented on alleged election fraud, citing Arizona’s recent audit: “Let’s see what they find. I wouldn’t be surprised if they found thousands and thousands and thousands of votes. After that, we’ll watch Pennsylvania, and you watch Georgia, then you’re going to watch Michigan and Wisconsin, and you’re watching New Hampshire.”

Article by Elizabeth Letsou