Arizona Audit Result No Cause For Celebration

We know the outcome means nothing to Trump and others who are still pushing the narrative that the election was stolen.

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What if the audit of the 2020 presidential election results in Maricopa County, Arizona, ordered by the state Senate had not confirmed the certified results? Or go a step further: What if the contractors hired to do the work, Cyber Ninjas, had claimed to discover at least 10,458 missing votes for former President Donald Trump, enough to overcome President Biden’s November victory in the Grand Canyon State?

They did not, instead releasing a report that alleges Trump lost the county by 360 more votes than the official returns show. But let’s try the thought experiment: What if, after hauling around and manhandling more than 2 million ballots for counting by untrained volunteers—likely sympathetic to the cause—at a former NBA arena, the Cyber Ninjas came forward with claims of election fraud massive enough that it could have shifted the state’s 11 electoral votes to Trump?

In terms of making Trump president, of course, it would mean nothing. Leaving aside the fact that Trump would still have lost his re-election even with Arizona in his column, there’s no legal or constitutional means to take back a presidential certification. That would be true even if somehow the kooks and charlatans—Trump chief among them—who claim that massive fraud in Arizona and at least two other states robbed the former president of a second term were proven right. In some bizarre alternate universe where Rudy Giuliani was credible and correct in his claims, Congress could only impeach and remove the sitting president and vice president if they wouldn’t resign. That would make House Speaker Nancy Pelosi president for the next three years. There’s no means by which Congress could just appoint a former president into power like a Roman dictator.

But what if the Cyber Ninjas claimed massive fraud but couldn’t satisfactorily back it up? What if the result by the MAGA volunteers at the former home of the Phoenix Suns wildly disagreed with the official, twice-audited results, but the auditors didn’t have compelling evidence to explain the error? You’d need a solid case to claim the discrepancy ran in their favor instead of the duly elected and appointed officials who counted, recounted, and certified the returns. But what if the Arizona secretary of state and Maricopa County officials answered the charges, but the Cyber Ninjas and their clients in the state Senate stayed stuck on fraud claims?

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    At first I was pleased that the AZ Fraudit actually affirmed Biden’s victory. But Chris has convinced me otherwise. What a sham it all is. Maybe this was by design or maybe they were just too incompetent to actually come up with fake evidence for Trump’s victory.

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  2. Tom (Inadvertent Obfuscation)

    I love your work, Chris Stirewalt! But I must call out an attempt to use a quote out of context as a clincher in your otherwise-excellent argument. Mr. Giuliani's efforts may have been misguided, but his statement with a little context was "they're trying to rush this hearing and how we need you, our Republican friends, to try to just slow it down so we can get these legislatures to get more information to you". (Thanks for the hyperlink in your article.)
    Those are the words of trying to avoid a distortion of the process, seeking justice.
    This is a minor criticism that does not undermine your point. But it seems appropriate to hold you to a higher standard.

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      Jenandlaw

      I’m also bothered that, almost to a man, the Trump-resistant conservative media keeps repeating that he asked Raffensberger to find votes for him. I have yet to get anyone to point me to the timestamp where he said this (and am legitimately asking, I could have missed it). He definitely said “I” or “we” need to find. If you listen to the recording, it’s clear he really believes there are legitimate votes for him that are being hidden. The tone of the discussion isn’t one of him trying to wheedle someone into doing something nefarious for him, but one of a person who has been “done wrong” trying desperately to repair the situation before it’s too late.

      Problem is, I dislike Trump probably as much as anyone in the entire world, so it’s hard to care a whole lot about this, but like you said, higher standard. Let’s be truthful about our criticism. Lord knows Trump gives us plenty to complain about legitimately.

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        Synchronize Your Dogmas (Bill B)

        Problem is that Trump has the ability to believe everything that comes out of his mouth before he even says it and whether or not it bears any close relation to reality or not. We don't let people off the hook who attacked thier neighbors because they thought they were space aliens. It's still called assault.

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      2. Tom (Inadvertent Obfuscation)

        Exactly. Anything but rock-solid criticism of Trump (or anyone else, for that matter) just offers them more support.

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  3. Joe1776

    Trump lost. But it is also true that courts gave some partisan rulings that effected what votes counted. It wasn’t enough to effect this election but it is still something the states should get sorted out.

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      Kizedek

      “ partisan rulings that effected what votes counted.”

      You mean, like, mailed-in ballots were allowed to count, or what?

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  4. Cegoodman85

    I have to agree, sadly.

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    Logical

    "The question now is whether Wyoming voters will reward that growth. Or whether they crave the warm shawl of a comforting lie that appeals to all their biases, told by a woman that they can be certain is lying to them."

    Liked that from Tim Miller today, comparing Cheney to Hageman.

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    Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

    I think the important thing to emphasize isn't "what if they found problems", but rather, they did not.

    Sometimes letting people have their way is the best punishment.

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    Bill Nelson

    And the outcome means nothing to the vast majority of Arizonans. It has long been regarded as a joke and has 0 impact on our lives. It will impact future elections because any republican candidate pushing this agenda will be viewed as an idiot.

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      Mudskipper

      I hope you are right about that.

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    The Stray Goose

    It's possible this will be self-correcting. Trump told Georgians not to vote and they didn't - Republicans lost the Senate. Now Trump is telling them the system is rigged. It seems like even more Republicans will stay away from voting in '22 and perhaps even '24. The GOP will be savaged and they'll have to reconsider their position. By that time Trump will be dead (hopefully of natural causes) and the GOP will then continue on able to counter the Democrats similar implosion.

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      Will Bates

      That might be true but its not what I want. I don’t want Republicans losing to today’s Demicrats, I want Republicans helping to centralize today’s Democrats.

      Instead, here’s what I see: Democrats have bad policies, and Republicans are bad people (those that continue to support Trump).

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        Ms. SSM

        Does anyone have good policies?

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          Will Bates

          ….Santa Clause?

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          1. GregS

            Free stuff for everyone who's "good"? A retail economy who's health is inversely correlated to the goodness of the population?

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    2. Kevin Brady

      Absolutely, Jeff. The only force powerful enough to right the ship is repeated electoral losses over the next few cycles. If the GOP stays strong in the House, Senate and governorships, then this kind of Stop-The-Steal rabbit-holing won't cease.

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    L L Cool A

    Well said Chris. It is increasingly depressing for me to interact with my friends who have accepted the Big Lie as they seem to happily be living in an alternate universe. I would love to understand why they eat up to this nonsense, and how they are convinced I am the one who is being deceived. Getting our country back to a minimum baseline of accepted facts seems to be one of our largest, and most important, challenges. Until then I don't know how we move forward.

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      Jenandlaw

      I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this too. I have friends and family who are genuinely smart people, good people, who were so deep into the “stolen election” claim that there was no reaching them. I have concluded it is mostly what you’re watching. I don’t have cable tv. I get my news from The Dispatch, Twitter, etc. When my dad got so depressed about the stolen election that he stopped watching any “news” program talking about it, he gradually began to come out of the fog. He still thinks Trump=Republican=Conservative but he’s less convinced there was a conspiracy to steal the election.

      Problem is, most people (including me and probably you too!) have this thing where when something we have been publicly vehement about turns out to not be true, we cannot just admit it. We have to find reasons why the situation isn’t what it really appears to be. Very few of us are actually mature adults. (Again, including me.)

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        Kizedek

        Not only are few of us acting like mature adults, few Christians are acting like mature Christians — or Christians at all : refusing to admit when wrong, pride, animosity, etc.

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    BrettH

    Nice piece, thanks Chris. It's somewhat impressive (in a depressing sort of way) to see the GOP continue to lower the bar of acceptable behavior. Just when you thought the bar was laying in the dirt, the GOP starts digging a trench for said bar to go even lower.

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