An unorthodox audit of Arizona’s 2020 presidential election results conducted by Trump supporters once again confirmed Thursday that President Joe Biden indeed won the state by an even larger margin than previously reported.
More than two million ballots from Maricopa County, the most populous county in the state, were hand-counted for months. The results, however, were already certified last year by both the Republican-controlled board of supervisors and the Republican governor.
The so-called “audit” found that Biden won 45,469 more votes than former President Donald Trump. The ballot results from November initially reported Trump lost the election by 45,109, which means that Biden actually won 360 more votes than Trump based on the new audit.
“This means the tabulation equipment counted the ballots as they were designed to do, and the results reflect the will of the voters,” County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jack Sellers said in a statement Thursday. “That should be the end of the story. Everything else is just noise. But I’m sure it won’t be. Board members told the truth in the face of angry phone calls and emails fueled by a coordinated campaign to shake Americans’ faith in the power of their vote. Will they accept the truth now?”
“I hope those holding on to their anger for the past ten months will see the truth and put their energy into supporting the democratic process instead of trying to tear it down,” Sellers added.
Despite the outcome, Trump on Friday released a statement insisting that the audit result was a fraud, blaming media for “fake news.”
“Huge findings in Arizona! However, the Fake News Media is already trying to ‘call it’ again for Biden before actually looking at the facts — just like they did in November!” Trump said in a statement issued through his Save America PAC.
“This is a major criminal event and should be investigated by the Attorney General immediately,” Trump added. “The Senate’s final report will be released today at 4:00 PM ET. I have heard it is far different than that being reported by the Fake News Media.”
Since last November, the former president and his supporters have been claiming that the presidential election was a fraud, which caused dozens of Republican-controlled states to initiate partisan audits.
On Tuesday, an internal memo found that the Trump campaign knew that their election fraud claims were untrue and that Dominion Voting System had no involvement with alleged “fraud.”
