Arizona Senate Liaison Threatens To Quit When Cyber Ninjas Bar Him From Audit Site

[The Barbarian]

The official liaison of the Arizona Senate Republicans in the vote recount they launched has threatened to quit after the controversial Cyber Ninjas operation shut him out.

Former secretary of state Ken Bennett, a Republican, said he was “shocked” when he was not allowed into the building last Friday where the Maricopa County audit — which he is charged with overseeing — was taking place.

Bennett said Monday that he was frozen out after he expressed several concerns about the operation, including what appeared to be sloppy and inconsistent spreadsheet tallies of votes. He called the issue “just the tip of the iceberg” of problems.
Arizona Senate Liaison Threatens To Quit When Cyber Ninjas Bar Him From Audit Site | HuffPost

Remember, this is the official designated by the republicans to keep an eye on things. Now, the process is so hidden, they won't even let him in the building. Smells of desperation.

Worse for them, a state judge has told the Republican-ruled State Senate that they must turn over any and all” records, including communications, planning, procedures, and funding sources for the partisan audit.

That should make interesting reading.

 

[Valletta]

The official liaison of the Arizona Senate Republicans in the vote recount they launched has threatened to quit after the controversial Cyber Ninjas operation shut him out.

Former secretary of state Ken Bennett, a Republican, said he was “shocked” when he was not allowed into the building last Friday where the Maricopa County audit — which he is charged with overseeing — was taking place.

Bennett said Monday that he was frozen out after he expressed several concerns about the operation, including what appeared to be sloppy and inconsistent spreadsheet tallies of votes. He called the issue “just the tip of the iceberg” of problems.
Arizona Senate Liaison Threatens To Quit When Cyber Ninjas Bar Him From Audit Site | HuffPost

Remember, this is the official designated by the republicans to keep an eye on things. Now, the process is so hidden, they won't even let him in the building. Smells of desperation.

Worse for them, a state judge has told the Republican-ruled State Senate that they must turn over any and all” records, including communications, planning, procedures, and funding sources for the partisan audit.

That should make interesting reading.

Wasn't this Ken Bennett previously caught leaking information from the audit? I suppose if they let him in that the many in the media would be screaming about lack of security.

 

[The Barbarian]

Wasn't this Ken Bennett previously caught leaking information from the audit?

How, exactly, does one "leak" information from a process whose administrators claim to be completely open and transparent? Don't voters have a right to know what these guys are doing with public records? If "cyber ninjas" wanted to keep the process hidden from the public, why did they profess it to be open?

I suppose if they let him in that the media would be screaming about lack of security.

Every media outlet that's weighed in on this, has decried the lack of transparency. Bennett has a responsibility to let the public know. It was only because a reporter got in as an observer, that we know the people doing the "audit" were provided pens suitable for altering ballots. And that's a huge deal.

 

[Valletta]

How, exactly, does one "leak" information from a process whose administrators claim to be completely open and transparent? Don't voters have a right to know what these guys are doing with public records? If "cyber ninjas" wanted to keep the process hidden from the public, why did they profess it to be open?

As to transparency, the audit is live streamed and observers are present. The FINDINGS of the audit are supposed to remain secret until the results are formally presented. This audit has gone on for months now and those have been, and are currently, the rules.

Every media outlet that's weighed in on this, has decried the lack of transparency. Bennett has a responsibility to let the public know.

Bennett does not have a responsibility to "let the public know," to the contrary, he should abide by the rules agreed upon. As with the Secret Service and President Biden, it would be a violation of privacy to reveal what Biden says in private. Bennett should have stepped down.

 

[The Barbarian]

As to transparency, the audit is live streamed and observers are present. The FINDINGS of the audit are supposed to remain secret until the results are formally presented.

So why do these guys think that has to be kept from the public? I get that they're frustrated that they've so far found nothing of any consequence. But eventually, they're going to have to come clean about it anyway.

And it wasn't the cyber ninja results he was making public:

Bennett said Monday that he was frozen out after he expressed several concerns about the operation, including what appeared to be sloppy and inconsistent spreadsheet tallies of votes. He called the issue “just the tip of the iceberg” of problems.
...
Bennett had been “kicked out” because recount figures from another audit arranged by the Senate and leaked to the press matched the official record, not the Ninjas’ numbers (which haven’t been released publicly).
Arizona Senate Liaison Threatens To Quit When Cyber Ninjas Bar Him From Audit Site | HuffPost

 

[Valletta]

So why do these guys think that has to be kept from the public? I get that they're frustrated that they've so far found nothing of any consequence. But eventually, they're going to have to come clean about it anyway.

And it wasn't the cyber ninja results he was making public:

Bennett said Monday that he was frozen out after he expressed several concerns about the operation, including what appeared to be sloppy and inconsistent spreadsheet tallies of votes. He called the issue “just the tip of the iceberg” of problems.
...
Bennett had been “kicked out” because recount figures from another audit arranged by the Senate and leaked to the press matched the official record, not the Ninjas’ numbers (which haven’t been released publicly).
Arizona Senate Liaison Threatens To Quit When Cyber Ninjas Bar Him From Audit Site | HuffPost

It's the Huffington Post, the article is full of all kinds of speculation and leaves out pertinent facts. Bennett breached the confidence of the audit, the Huffington Post makes it sound like he is going back on his apology. If I were in charge I certainly would not give Bennett access to any more information until the final report is released.

On what basis do you claim that "so far nothing of consequence" has been found?

 

[The Barbarian]

It's the Huffington Post, the article is full of all kinds of speculation and leaves out pertinent facts.

They quoted Bennett (a conservative republican). How dastardly.

If I were in charge I certainly would not give Bennett access to any more information until the final report is released.

Not it he's going to start letting the voters know what's going on. I guess that he just assumed that when cyber ninjas and the republicans said the audit would be open and transparent, they meant that it was going to be open and transparent.

I

On what basis do you claim that "so far nothing of consequence" has been found?

Mainly, because they have several times claimed to have found discrepancies, and each time were shown that they just didn't know what they were doing. Would you like to see that, again?

 

[The Barbarian]

As to transparency, the audit is live streamed and observers are present. The FINDINGS of the audit are supposed to remain secret until the results are formally presented. This audit has gone on for months now and those have been, and are currently, the rules.

Bennett's concern is that since the director of the "audit" is not certified, had concluded there was fraud before every looking at the data, and had already provided his people with the means to alter ballots, that he might very well be planning to use force balancing to get a plausible result:

Typically, Bennett has not been allowed to see the audit’s final tally—which Fann confirmed earlier this month would differ from the official count—even though the audit was completed weeks ago. And apparently, as I predicted in May, those numbers are going to prove way off.


“That count must have been significantly different than the Maricopa County count because all of a sudden the Senate started talking about a third count,” Bennett said. This count would be “to just verify the number of ballots that are here.”


If a third count were to be commissioned, Bennett said that he insisted an independent third party conduct it, but instead Cyber Ninjas has insisted on doing it themselves and blocking Bennett from access to the process. This led Bennett to conclude that Cyber Ninjas might cook the numbers of its tally to match those of the new one.


“We have to make sure that we are not force balancing to their number or giving them something too early that would allow them to force balance back to our number,” Bennett said. “I even asked Mr. Pullen what are the procedures for us to do this third count so that we can make sure that we are independent from the second, and he refused to tell me. And I just was shocked that I became very concerned that there would be this force balancing going on.” (Force balancing is an accounting term that basically means cooking the books.)
One of the Leaders of the Arizona Audit Says Cyber Ninjas Might Be Cooking the Books

The republican senate is now in full panic mode, as all of this is going to be eventually public information. There's a lot of pre-damage control going on now, and Bennett is in the way.

 

[Valletta]

Bennett's concern is that since the director of the "audit" is not certified, had concluded there was fraud before every looking at the data, and had already provided his people with the means to alter ballots, that he might very well be planning to use force balancing to get a plausible result:

Typically, Bennett has not been allowed to see the audit’s final tally—which Fann confirmed earlier this month would differ from the official count—even though the audit was completed weeks ago. And apparently, as I predicted in May, those numbers are going to prove way off.


“That count must have been significantly different than the Maricopa County count because all of a sudden the Senate started talking about a third count,” Bennett said. This count would be “to just verify the number of ballots that are here.”


If a third count were to be commissioned, Bennett said that he insisted an independent third party conduct it, but instead Cyber Ninjas has insisted on doing it themselves and blocking Bennett from access to the process. This led Bennett to conclude that Cyber Ninjas might cook the numbers of its tally to match those of the new one.


“We have to make sure that we are not force balancing to their number or giving them something too early that would allow them to force balance back to our number,” Bennett said. “I even asked Mr. Pullen what are the procedures for us to do this third count so that we can make sure that we are independent from the second, and he refused to tell me. And I just was shocked that I became very concerned that there would be this force balancing going on.” (Force balancing is an accounting term that basically means cooking the books.)
One of the Leaders of the Arizona Audit Says Cyber Ninjas Might Be Cooking the Books

The republican senate is now in full panic mode, as all of this is going to be eventually public information. There's a lot of pre-damage control going on now, and Bennett is in the way.

Bennett was caught leaking information, the only one I know of amongst all of the Democrats and Republicans, the agreement was to wait until the audit was over before releasing any findings. This reminds me of Dr. Fauci, people keep pushing the thoughts of these people who have been caught in dishonest statements or dishonorable acts as if they should be the ones we all listen to. The report will be out soon.

 

[The Barbarian]

Bennett was caught leaking information, the only one I know of amongst all of the Democrats and Republicans, the agreement was to wait until the audit was over before releasing any findings.

Show us that agreement. Of course, democrats were excluded from the process entirely. Unlike the usual election audits, this project kept it as secret as they could. And notice the outrage when the public got some information on what the were up to.

The report will be out soon.

Sure... how many deadlines have they set and ignored so far? But here's the real reason, they're avoiding a finish to this mess:

And on Friday afternoon, the Associated Press made it clear why this is so: Arizona's county election officials have also been going through the ballots, not just for Maricopa, but for every county. And what they've found knocks the sword right out of the Ninja's hands.

After looking through more than three million ballots from the 2020 election, 182 cases turned up that were confusing enough that they were referred for further review. Four of these cases have led to actual charges of voter fraud. None of them involve someone voting more than once—though several of the cases involve people who tried to vote more than once and were stopped. These numbers are exactly in line with would be expected in any election, and show absolutely nothing special about what happened in Arizona, no matter what the county.

If all 182 cases involved an incidence in which a Trump vote was switched to Biden—and there's no evidence that's the result of any of these cases—Joe Biden would still have won the state by 10,218 votes. Of the four cases charged, two involved Democrats and two involved Republicans.

As for Maricopa County, the actual election supervisors identified one case of potential voter fraud. That case involves a voter who might have also been registered to vote in another state, The case has been sent to the state attorney general for investigation.

Not only do the 182 cases show that large scale vote fraud is non-existent, they show just how good the system is at stopping even small-scale cheaters. People who tried to vote in multiple districts were stopped. People who tried to vote remotely as well as in-person got just one vote. People who tried to cast mail-in ballots for dead relatives were caught. Even cases that were unclear—like the voter who could have potentially voted in another state—were flagged and investigated.
https://www.nationalmemo.com/cyber-ninjas-arizona-audit

If the pretend "audit" by a Qanon follower, who declared in advance the vote was rigged, doesn't match the other audits, I know a cyber ninja who will be in big trouble.

 

[Valletta]

Show us that agreement. Of course, democrats were excluded from the process entirely. Unlike the usual election audits, this project kept it as secret as they could. And notice the outrage when the public got some information on what the were up to.



Sure... how many deadlines have they set and ignored so far? But here's the real reason, they're avoiding a finish to this mess:

And on Friday afternoon, the Associated Press made it clear why this is so: Arizona's county election officials have also been going through the ballots, not just for Maricopa, but for every county. And what they've found knocks the sword right out of the Ninja's hands.

After looking through more than three million ballots from the 2020 election, 182 cases turned up that were confusing enough that they were referred for further review. Four of these cases have led to actual charges of voter fraud. None of them involve someone voting more than once—though several of the cases involve people who tried to vote more than once and were stopped. These numbers are exactly in line with would be expected in any election, and show absolutely nothing special about what happened in Arizona, no matter what the county.

If all 182 cases involved an incidence in which a Trump vote was switched to Biden—and there's no evidence that's the result of any of these cases—Joe Biden would still have won the state by 10,218 votes. Of the four cases charged, two involved Democrats and two involved Republicans.

As for Maricopa County, the actual election supervisors identified one case of potential voter fraud. That case involves a voter who might have also been registered to vote in another state, The case has been sent to the state attorney general for investigation.

Not only do the 182 cases show that large scale vote fraud is non-existent, they show just how good the system is at stopping even small-scale cheaters. People who tried to vote in multiple districts were stopped. People who tried to vote remotely as well as in-person got just one vote. People who tried to cast mail-in ballots for dead relatives were caught. Even cases that were unclear—like the voter who could have potentially voted in another state—were flagged and investigated.
https://www.nationalmemo.com/cyber-ninjas-arizona-audit

If the pretend "audit" by a Qanon follower, who declared in advance the vote was rigged, doesn't match the other audits, I know a cyber ninja who will be in big trouble.

So all of this effort to undermine the first full forensic audit, and now officials are going through the ballots!!! Who authorized their actions? Where is the money coming from for these officials to go through the ballots? What kind of security is involved? I am unaware of any live streaming of these officials actions, why the secrecy? How do we know they are not altering ballots?

 

[The Barbarian]

So all of this effort to undermine the first full forensic audit,

It's not actually an audit. This guy was hired because he had declared before looking at any data that the election was fraudulent.

and now officials are going through the ballots!!! Who authorized their actions?

They are election officials. Their jobs. And they were right to see if this QAnon devotee was messing with the data. As you know, a reporter discovered that he had illegally provided workers with pens capable of altering ballots, and the state found that he had lied about supposedly missing data which he already had in his possession. And then, either intentionally or because he had no idea what he's doing, he compromised numerous moving machines which now must be discarded.

More than probable cause to suspect him of fraud.

Where is the money coming from for these officials to go through the ballots?

State and local funds. But that brings up a good question. Why is this guy so unwilling to reveal where the money for the "audit"is coming from? Why did it take a lawsuit for the public to be able to see that?

How do we know they are not altering ballots?

Because they are following the law, and not issuing blue or black pens to anyone looking at the ballots. Cyber ninjas, right from the start, gave workers pens that could be used to change ballots.

 

[Valletta]

[QUOTE="The Barbarian, post: 76135302, member: 7989"
They are election officials. Their jobs. .[/QUOTE]

Baloney, the election is long over! It is not the "job" of election officials to secretly conduct their own audit over half of a year after the election. They have no "right" to conduct a secret audit, they work for the people. Government servants can't just go do their own thing and use taxpayer money because they may believe they have a right. Show my what law authorized them to do so! So there is a rogue effort, spending taxpayer money to try and discredit an audit before the results of the audit are complete.

We've been down this path before with the fake Russia Russia Russia conspiracy hoax based on anonymous sources.

 

[The Barbarian]

Baloney, the election is long over!

Oh, well stop the audit, then. I get why you don't want anyone checking up on the "audit"; it's already had numerous embarrassing revelations about their lack of security, opportunities to alter ballots, and failures to even understand how to retrieve information.

But that's not going to happen. And there will be transparency, and likely there will be consequences for those who did not follow state law in ballot security. Why do you think your guys are so reluctant to end the charade?

Government servants can't just go do their own thing and use taxpayer money because they may believe they have a right.

That's what the republicans in the Arizona senate did by bringing in this QAnon believer to "audit" the election.

Show my what law authorized them to do so!

Arizona Election Laws & Publications | Arizona Secretary of State

I realize that the walls are starting to close in on the guys who thought up that "audit." They probably should have considered the consequences before they started.

 

[Valletta]

Oh, well stop the audit, then. I get why you don't want anyone checking up on the "audit"; it's already had numerous embarrassing revelations about their lack of security, opportunities to alter ballots, and failures to even understand how to retrieve information.

But that's not going to happen. And there will be transparency, and likely there will be consequences for those who did not follow state law in ballot security. Why do you think your guys are so reluctant to end the charade?



That's what the republicans in the Arizona senate did by bringing in this QAnon believer to "audit" the election.


Arizona Election Laws & Publications | Arizona Secretary of State

I realize that the walls are starting to close in on the guys who thought up that "audit." They probably should have considered the consequences before they started.

Talk about shooting the messenger. The panic has been crazy, the Democrats have used legions of lawyers in an effort to quash examinations of the election process. The lack of security story you are pushing was yet another media hoax, they have had armed guards surrounding the building and live streamed the audit. If they find problems, small or large, we can all work together to fix the problems. Election integrity is crucial to the future of our Republic.

 

[The Barbarian]

Talk about shooting the messenger.

You want to shoot them? I get that the revelations about the "audit" have been embarrassing. But what did you think would happen?

The panic has been crazy, the Democrats have used legions of lawyers in an effort to quash examinations of the election process.

You just went ballistic because the Arizona election officials are doing that.

The lack of security story you are pushing was yet another media hoax, they have had armed guards surrounding the building and live streamed the audit.

No point in denying the facts.

Black and blue pens are expressly verboten anywhere ballots are handled, according to the settlement. A judge previously ordered Cyber Ninjas and other companies involved to remove black and blue pens from the counting area after the writing instruments were spotted by a Republic reporter shortly before counting began.

Voters typically mark ballots using black or blue pens, as those colors are read by tabulation machines. In turn, black and blue pens are banned in areas where election workers handle ballots as a basic security measure to prevent tampering and fraud.
Democrats settle lawsuit with Arizona Senate, Cyber Ninjas on Maricopa County election audit

If they find problems, small or large, we can all work together to fix the problems.

It took a court order last time to get your guy to comply with state laws. So no, that's not likely.

Election integrity is crucial to the future of our Republic.

Which is why the press and election officials are keeping an eye on those guys. They've already made it so we can never tell if they've altered ballots or not, and they've compromised voting machines to the point that they cannot be reused.

It's likely to get worse for cyber ninjas before it gets better.

 

[Valletta]

You want to shoot them? I get that the revelations about the "audit" have been embarrassing. But what did you think would happen?



You just went ballistic because the Arizona election officials are doing that.



No point in denying the facts.

Black and blue pens are expressly verboten anywhere ballots are handled, according to the settlement. A judge previously ordered Cyber Ninjas and other companies involved to remove black and blue pens from the counting area after the writing instruments were spotted by a Republic reporter shortly before counting began.

Voters typically mark ballots using black or blue pens, as those colors are read by tabulation machines. In turn, black and blue pens are banned in areas where election workers handle ballots as a basic security measure to prevent tampering and fraud.
Democrats settle lawsuit with Arizona Senate, Cyber Ninjas on Maricopa County election audit



It took a court order last time to get your guy to comply with state laws. So no, that's not likely.



Which is why the press and election officials are keeping an eye on those guys. They've already made it so we can never tell if they've altered ballots or not, and they've compromised voting machines to the point that they cannot be reused.

It's likely to get worse for cyber ninjas before it gets better.

I don't know who you are referring to by "your guy," as an American election transparency and integrity is extremely important to me. I have championed government transparency for a long long time. I understand the attacks against transparency and government integrity.

 

[The Barbarian]

I don't know who you are referring to by "your guy," as an American election transparency and integrity is extremely important to me. I

And yet you back this "audit" which is hiding everything, and condemned a conservative republican who revealed some of the things that were going on. There seems to be a disconnect here.