Yes, a guy from the insurrection is handling your ballot. Thank the Arizona GOP for that

Opinion: And thank the incompetent folks at Cyber Ninjas for proving what a farce their election 'audit' is.

EJ Montini
Arizona Republic
Former Arizona lawmaker Anthony Kern (right, standing) helps in examining and recounting Maricopa County ballots from the 2020 general election with contractors hired by the Arizona Senate at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix on April 30, 2021. Kern, who was on the 2020 general election ballot, also was in Washington, D.C., during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

We owe a debt of gratitude to the inept folks at Cyber Ninjas and the blatantly jaundiced Republican state senators who hired them to conduct the “audit” of Maricopa County election ballots.

A heartfelt thank-you is in order.

Those looking to convince the less-than-skeptical among us that this entire exercise is a partisan sham no longer need to argue their case. The Cyber Ninjas themselves have provided all the evidence that is required – incontrovertible proof that their “audit” is a fraud.

They allowed former state lawmaker Anthony Kern, a conspiracy-spreading Trump zealot who was at the U.S. Capitol the day the insurrectionists stormed the building, to help count and inspect ballots.

Perhaps even your ballot.

This is how Cyber Ninjas screen counters?

This occurred after the CEO of Cyber Ninjas, which has no experience doing these things, promised that the vote counters would be nonpartisan and that they would each be – HA! – screened.

If Kern didn’t set off any alarms just imagine who else they’ve allowed to handle our precious ballots.

Kern was among those who didn’t want Congress to accept Arizona’s presidential electors. He was active in the so-called “Stop the Steal” campaign.

He tweeted to then-President Trump: “Mr. President @realDonaldTrump: As an Arizona State Representative, I know this election was filled with irregularities, no-transparency adjudications, and even outright fraud. You won this election, and we stand with you every step of the way!”

Enough said?

This should not surprise anyone. It comes from a company that tried to keep the press out of their vote-counting process. Perhaps because it was more chaos than process.

It’s a company that said it couldn’t guarantee all political parties will be included as observers. It brought in former elected Republican Ken Bennett to oversee things, a man who denies he was an Obama “birther,” though as secretary of state he talked of keeping the former president’s name off the election ballot.

The AZ GOP's real motive is money

This entire phony audit is not about ballots. It’s about dollars.

The idea is to keep people riled up. Appeal to their emotions. Then hit them up for cash.

A website connected to Republican senators is trying to solicit $2.8 million. And Arizona Republican Party chair Kelli Ward has been sending video emails to supporters asking them to donate to the audit effort, saying, “It’s a fight and we need your help to keep it going …”

And now we find out that the closest the Cyber Ninjas could come to “nonpartisan,” the closest they could come to “screening” vote counters, is Kern?

This is even worse than we thought.

Not only is the fox guarding the henhouse, but the chickens are … us.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

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