Last Updated on April 23, 2021
The forensic audit of over 2 million ballots from Maricopa County will continue unabated, after Arizona Democrats refused to pay a judge-ordered $1 million bond.
National File reported on Friday that Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Christoper Coury said that the forensic audit of all 2.1 million 2020 ballots from the Arizona county, which started on Friday, should be temporarily halted from Friday at 5 p.m. until 12 p.m. on Monday. The order came as the result of a lawsuit from Arizona Democrats, who wanted to stop the Maricopa audit, claiming that they were various irregularities with the effort, despite the Senate ensuring a high level of transparency throughout the process.
The court ultimately determined the Democrats should put up $1 million in order to pause the audit, to fund any potential increase in costs that would come as a result of the temporary halt. The pause would not go ahead without the bond being posted. On Friday afternoon, the Arizona Democrat Party confirmed that they were completely unwilling to pony up the money.
In a press release, the chair of the Arizona Democrats, Raquel Terán, claimed that the “lack of transparency” from Senate President Fann and Cyber Ninjas about what the actual cost of the audit is “makes the question of posting a $1 million bond laughable.” Terán added that “the Arizona Democratic Party will not risk our supporters’s hard-earned dollars to pay off the Cyber Ninjas for a procedure they are billing Arizona taxpayers to the tune of $150,000.”
The Arizona Democrat Party chair for some reason brought up the fact that private donations from people like Lin Wood and other smaller funding sources were being used to help assist in the cost of the audit. “The fact of the matter is that no one knows the actual cost of this sham audit and President Fann and the Cyber Ninjas have not once made this figure public,” Terán continued.
“Democrats [are] doing everything to stop [the] audit, including filing lawsuits attacking the ‘integrity’ of the process,” said the Arizona GOP in a tweet before the statement on Friday. “So NOW they care about election integrity? Nope. They just don’t want Americans to be involved in our own elections,” they added.
Democrats doing everything to stop audit, including filing lawsuits attacking the "integrity" of the process. So NOW they care about #ElectionIntegrity?!?! Nope. They just don't want Americans to be involved in our own elections. Watch audit live at https://t.co/YgAKN8EcYu pic.twitter.com/Nz3r8bcyDJ
— Republican Party of Arizona (@AZGOP) April 23, 2021
President Trump in a statement had slammed the lawsuit, and claimed it was evidence that the Democrats “are desperate for the fraud to remain concealed from the American people. “Our country needs the truth of the scam 2020 Election to be exposed,” Trump said. “If it is not, just as if we have “no borders,” we cannot be a Great Nation. Honest elections are America’s Heart and Soul. We must never allow this to happen to our Great Country again.”
