Resurrecting Arizona’s 2020 Election Denial Lunacy

Hi, and welcome back to The Franchise!

This week, we’ll be looking at the Trump DOJ’s attempt to expand its 2020 voter fraud probe into Arizona, along with the backstory on the Cyber Ninja “audit” that’s wrapped up in all of this (and yes, it is absolutely insane that we are still talking about the 2020 election). Plus, Trump has moved on to issuing threats to get his SAVE America Act passed and, of course, the latest in the redistricting battle.  

Let’s dig in.

Everything You Need to Know About the 2020 Cyber Ninja ‘Audit’ Report

As you may have heard by now, the Trump administration has expanded its 2020 election probe to Arizona — specifically, Maricopa County, ground zero for 2020 election conspiracy theories. The FBI reportedly issued a grand jury subpoena to the Arizona state Senate on Monday for records related to the 2020 election in Maricopa County, the state’s most populous county and, as a purple county, a place that has become a hotbed for Big Lie-related election misinformation. 

“A lot has been investigated by serious investigators and then some really crazy stuff has been investigated by less serious investigators, and so I just wonder what could you be going back to if that is indeed the goal?” the former Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer from 2021-2025 told me in an interview. 

“The fact that we’re still talking about it [the 2020 election] today is because Donald Trump wants to keep talking about it,” he added. “And to the extent that people think that that’s a ridiculous use of time, so take that to Trump and some of his close allies.”

Now might be a good time to remind you all about some of the “Stop the Steal” lunacy that took place in Maricopa County shortly after the 2020 election. 

Months after Arizona certified its 2020 election results, with Biden as the clear winner against Trump, Arizona state Senate Republicans initiated an unofficial “audit” of the 2.1 million ballots cast and 400 voting machines in Maricopa County. It’s important to note here that this “audit,” which was not an actual audit but some sort of weird partisan election denier review, was requested after the state conducted several official audits that found no evidence of fraud.  

To conduct this “audit,” Arizona Senate Republicans hired a Florida-based cybersecurity firm with absolutely zero experience in election security, called the Cyber Ninjas. What the firm lacked in election knowledge, however, they made up for in their very rich history of promoting voter fraud claims (The Cyber Ninja firm is ~shockingly~ no longer in existence).

The Cyber Ninja report did not find fraud of any kind. All it did was reaffirm Joe Biden as the winner, and actually discovered 360 more votes for Biden. 

“The #azaudit draft report from Cyber Ninjas confirms the county’s canvass of the 2020 General Election was accurate and the candidates certified as the winners did, in fact, win,” Maricopa County wrote in a post on X, following the release of the Cyber Ninja “audit” report in September 2021. 

The report also repeated a bunch of false claims. All have been debunked. 

I’ll run through just a couple here. The Cyber Ninjas claimed, by looking at voter names and birth year alone, that there were thousands of voters who voted in multiple counties. This alone was somehow evidence enough of something really sinister going on in Maricopa County? There are many people with the same name and the same birth year. How was this used as evidence for anything?

The report also alleged that there were thousands more ballots returned by voters than received by voters. This wasn’t true either. Maricopa County quickly debunked this claim on X. 

What exactly is the Trump administration hoping to accomplish by revisiting these 2020 Arizona election records? Couldn’t say. It is safe to assume, though, they will drum up more fear about the safety and integrity of the nation’s secure election system. And, who knows, maybe they find even more votes for Biden in the process.

Trump’s SAVE America Act Threats

Trump is trying his absolute hardest to force Congress into approving the SAVE America Act, a sweeping voter suppression bill that, among other things, will require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote.

The House approved the SAVE America Act last month in a 218-213 vote. But because of the filibuster, the measure is now stalled in the Senate. Trump has been trying to get Republican leadership to change the filibuster rules in order to pass it, but his pleas have, at least until this point, not worked. 

Last week, Trump took to Truth Social to pressure Senate Republicans to take up the SAVE America Act. As a reminder, this was happening against the backdrop of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton responding to Trump’s reported plans to endorse Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in the Republican primary for Cornyn’s seat. Paxton then posted on X saying he would drop out if the Senate passed the SAVE America Act, something that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) does not want to change filibuster rules in order to do. 

Trump upped the threat threshold on Sunday when he posted on Truth Social that he won’t sign any other legislation until the SAVE America Act is approved.

“It must be done immediately. It supersedes everything else. MUST GO TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE. I, as President, will not sign other Bills until this is passed, AND NOT THE WATERED DOWN VERSION – GO FOR THE GOLD: MUST SHOW VOTER I.D. & PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP: NO MAIL-IN BALLOTS EXCEPT FOR MILITARY – ILLNESS, DISABILITY, TRAVEL: NO MEN IN WOMEN’S SPORTS: NO TRANSGENDER MUTILIZATION FOR CHILDREN! DO NOT FAIL!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. 

If it does somehow pass the Senate, the legislation will disenfranchise millions of voters who do not have proof of citizenship documents readily available to them. And, as we’ve reported before, the legislation perpetuates the myth that non-citizens are voting en masse in our elections. There’s simply zero evidence of any kind to suggest that this is happening.

Thune announced this week that he would hold a vote on the SAVE America Act on the Senate floor next week, without changing filibuster rules. This is largely expected to be a messaging vote to allow members of his conference to go on record about the legislation. 

Around the States: Redistricting

Virginia

Virginia voters recently received highly offensive mailers targeting Black voters, likening the state’s Democratic-led redistricting proposal to Jim Crow. 

“Our ancestors fought to represent us. Now Richmond politicians are trying to take our districts away,” the mailed flyers read. “Just like Jim Crow, they want to silence your voice.”

The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus (VLBC), which supports the state’s redistricting proposal, described the mailers as having “racist and painful imagery.”

A referendum on the redistricting proposal will be on the ballot in Virginia next month.

Missouri

On Thursday, a Missouri court upheld the constitutionality of the of state’s new congressional map.

In September, Republican Missouri lawmakers approved a new gerrymandered map, which impacts a historically Black-represented Kansas City congressional district, which is currently represented by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver — who was also the first Black mayor of Kansas City. 

In Other Election News:

South Dakota Searchlight: New South Dakota law allows voters to challenge other voters’ citizenship

CNN: Key 2020 election denier is still working to prove it was stolen — now from inside the White House
New York Times: Trump Wants to ‘Take Over’ Elections. These States Are Prime Targets.