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Observers of GOP-Led Arizona Recount Say They’ve Found Slew of Errors

Confidential manuals sitting unattended and security gates left unlocked are just two of the many issues dogging the state GOP’s folly.

Observers watching Arizona’s GOP-led election audit have documented, among other things, unlocked and unattended security gates, a confidential manual left out for all to see, and prohibited items being allowed into restricted areas, according to documentation made public Tuesday by Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs. “On May 27, 2021, observers noted State Senator Wendy Rogers was on the counting floor and was provided a black pen to take notes by Cyber Ninjas,” reads one observer’s comment posted by Hobbs. “Pens with black and blue ink, which can be read by tabulators, are prohibited from being near ballots to ensure they cannot be used to alter the ballots. She also was writing on the white note paper that was provided to her and carried her cell phone in her back pocket, both violations of their own security measures.”

Other issues noted by the observers included a software update that was so problematic, the private company Republicans hired to do the recount, Florida-based Cyber Ninjas, was forced to revert back to the old version. The CEO of Cyber Ninjas, Doug Logan, has been publicly supportive of the notion that the 2020 election was “stolen” from Donald Trump, according to the Associated Press. Last week, audit spokesman Randy Pullen, a former state GOP chairman, remarked that the pink T-shirt a volunteer observer was given to wear made him “look like a transgender.” Pullen denied the charge in a text message to The Washington Post, calling it “not true.”