Florida Firm Oversees AZ’s Controversial 2020 Election Audit

ARIZONA — Arizona’s controversial audit of its 2020 election results, led by the state’s Senate Republicans, has seen numerous twists and turns in recent months.

The latest involves the Arizona Democratic Party’s lawsuit challenging the audit. The judge presiding over the case stepped down Sunday evening – just hours before a hearing scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday, 12 News reported. Judge Christopher CouryJudge Christopher Coury, a Republican appointee, said a lawyer for the lead auditor, Sarasota-based firm Cyber Ninjas, worked as an extern in his office in recent years.

A new judge will be assigned to the case.

The audit stems from efforts by the state’s Republican lawmakers to throw out the 2020 election results, which gave President Joe Biden a victory over his opponent, former President Donald Trump. Biden defeated Trump by 10,457 votes, according to state election results. The results of the audit won’t affect the certified election results or Biden’s presidency.

Auditors will recount by hand all 2.1 million ballots cast in Maricopa County — which includes the Phoenix metro area and is the center of the Republicans’ fraud claims — examine the vote-counting machines and interview voters, reports said.

At least $150,000 in taxpayer dollars have been spent on the process. Another $150,000 in private donations has been collected, as well, 12 News reported.

Sarasota’s Cyber Ninjas, which was hired to lead the process, is at the heart of the audit. The firm will oversee three other companies — Wake Technology Services, Digital Discovery and CyFIR — to complete the audit and hand recount, Salon reported.

The cyber security consulting company, founded in 2014 by Doug Logan, specializes in software security and offers services including security assessments, consulting and training, according to its website. Its website doesn’t mention any services or experience related to election audits.

Cyber Ninjas has attempted to keep the public and the media out of the courtroom as the lawsuit moves forward, reports said. Claiming they contain “trade secrets,” the firm has asked the court to keep filings related to the case under a protective seal and unavailable for public view. Its lawyers also said the filings include information that could have a negative effect on the audit’s outcome.

Logan, the firm’s owner, is an advocate of the “Stop the Steal” campaign, a Republican movement to overturn election results by claiming that Biden — and the Democrats — won through election fraud, reports said.

He created a document of “election fraud facts” for U.S. senators who planned to object certification of the 2020 election results Jan. 6, the Arizona Mirror reported. He was also an expert witness in a lawsuit filed by a man who claimed systemic fraud occurred in Antrim County, Michigan.

Though his Twitter account has since been deactivated, Logan actively used social media to support Trump and share conspiracy theories related to election fraud, the Arizona Mirror said. Some of his tweets reportedly targeted Dominion Voting Systems, which sells electronic voting hardware and software and has provided voting equipment to Maricopa County for more than a decade.

Dominion has criticized the companies chosen to conduct the audit. In a statement, the spokesperson called the firms involved with the auditing process “beyond biased” and “led by conspiracy theorists.”

On its website, the company also noted that “more than a thousand independent audits and recounts since Election Day in November 2020 have demonstrated the accuracy and reliability of Dominion systems.”

Patch has reached out to Cyber Ninjas for additional information.