Maricopa County ballot audit with Arizona secretary of state Katie Hobbs

We spoke to Arizona’s top election official, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs to discuss the release of the 2020 Maricopa County Audit Results and give us her impression of what we know so far.

The long-awaited results were finally released to the public Friday which is likely to spark reaction from across the country. The process, however, has come under fire, including from Hobbs.

“The bottom line is that the process was not adequate to ensure valid results and what we’re seeing during the presentation of this report is just a whole bunch more misinformation about ballot envelopes, signature verification and duplicated ballots that they just don’t understand how this process works,” Hobbs said. “Election officials have tried to explain it to them and they’re not interested in listening because their agenda is to undermine the process of our elections, undermine the integrity and continue to sow that doubt as we head into the next cycle.”

Maricopa County fact-checked the audit and said that the problem was the group didn’t understand various aspects of election laws. Hobbs agreed.

“It’s part of the problem but when people would try to explain it to them, it didn’t matter, they didn’t want to hear the right answer because they wouldn’t have been able to continue to perpetuate the misinformation that they’re trying to continue to do,” Hobbs said. “Maricopa County’s been fact-checking this process all along, our office has been, we came out with a really comprehensive report detailing all the problems in this process that really undermine its credibility.”

The final numbers that were delivered were as accurate as the original totals may provide some vindication.

“They’re still trying to justify why the election was still filled with problems which it wasn’t,” Hobbs said. “The way that they arrived at their count was filled with problems and was in no way a real audit”