Last Updated on October 2, 2021
Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai, whose company was contracted to perform part of the Arizona Audit, expressed concern regarding Maricopa County’s claim that the scanned ballot envelopes Ayyadurai’s firm was provided were “compressed” to the point the original information on the documents were lost.
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors attempted to dismiss some of Ayyadurai’s findings as being caused by compressing the original image files at some point before giving them to Ayyadurai’s firm to audit. “Since the scan is compressed the envelope only takes the outline of things like an arrow or large font. So the stamp was originally stampedover The Black arrow and in a scan it appears to be under it.”
Ayyadurai notes that this explanation is “somewhat cryptic.” He adds, “What is most concerning is to find out now, for the first time since EchoMail was engaged for this audit, that the images EchoMail received are a compressed version of some original version. This means that modifications took place e.g. compression on the original images that were created from scanning of the voter’s original EVB return envelopes.”
Dr. Shiva’s response to Maricopa County’s explanation to the envelopes. pic.twitter.com/1rlsmLZeCU
— Christina Bobb (@christina_bobb) October 2, 2021
Ayyadurai then asks a series of questions about the original envelope images and the envelopes themselves, and the findings not addressed by Maricopa County’s explanation.
“Why are not all the bona fide i.e. “Verified and Counted” EVB return envelope images stamped “VERIFIED & APPROVED MCTEC?” He continued, “Given EchoMail has access to EVB return envelope images, where the stamp appears both behind and in front of a triangle, how does the County’s explanation resolve such examples? Do different compression settings exist?”
Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai delivers his key findings during the #ArizonaAudit hearing pic.twitter.com/eWiwPzT2XG
— National File (@NationalFile) September 24, 2021
It appears Ayyadurai looks to continue working should Maricopa County respond. “We look forward to next steps, once we receive answers to the above questions.”
