Arizona audit report delayed following COVID outbreak on Cyber Ninjas team

TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - The draft report for the partisan Arizona election audit has been delayed after several members of the team doing the audit contracted COVID-19.

On Monday, Aug. 23, Arizona Senate President Karen Fann said Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan and two other members of the five-person audit team “tested positive for COVID-19 and are quite sick.”

The draft report was supposed to be delivered to the Arizona Senate Monday, but it was unclear if it was going to be released to the public.

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer have been two of the highest-profile officials to speak out against the audit.

Richer, a Republican, sent an open letter to Arizona Republicans telling them the party must come to grips that former President Donald Trump lost the election fair and square. He also questioned Cyber Ninjas’ credibility.

“Whatever is in that report, don’t be surprised if some of that gets walked back a few weeks later,” Richer told AZ Family on Friday.

Last week, Hobbs released a 122-page report about the audit and said it was filled with “security lapses, delays, disorganization, and lack of transparency.”

Also last week, Maricopa County filed a claim against the Arizona Senate. The county said $3 million in election equipment is now unusable because it was compromised by Cyber Ninjas staff.

The U.S. Justice Department has also weighed in on the audit and warned about the pitfalls of post-election audits.

Fann also claimed the draft report was delayed because Maricopa County did not deliver images of the ballot envelopes until Thursday of last week.

“(We) are hoping to have those analyzed as soon as possible to incorporate those results into the final report,” Fann said of the ballot envelopes.

The Senate’s legal team is set to meet Wednesday to review the draft report.

When the Cyber Ninjas’ full report is submitted, Fann said the Senate team will “check for accuracy, clarity, and proof of documentation” before it is presented to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

After that, the full report will be released to the public.