Maricopa County’s partisan ballot review in final stages

The ongoing partisan review of ballots in Maricopa County, Arizona, is entering its final stages after just under two months. The county's 2.1 million ballots have been recounted by hand, except for the braille ballots, which are now undergoing a "paper examination" by workers. 

Earlier this year, Arizona Senate Republicans took possession of the ballots and 400 election machines by subpoena. Arizona had already audited its ballots and election equipment and found no issues with the 2020 election results. President Biden won the state by 10,457 votes, becoming the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry Arizona since 1996. 

The audit in Maricopa County won't change the results of the 2020 election, but it has already had widespread impact in amplifying unfounded doubts about the election. The effort has inspired conservative lawmakers and activists in other battleground states to call for a similar recounting of ballots, despite thorough reviews of the election that have repeatedly found no evidence of widespread fraud. 

Lawmakers from Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Wisconsin are among those who have visited the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, where the counting is taking place, to take notes on how to potentially replicate audits in their states. 

The Republican-dominated Maricopa County Board of Supervisors called for the audit to end last month and the board's GOP chair Jack Sellers called it a "sham process." 

"Finish what you're calling an audit and be ready to defend your report in a court of law," Sellers said.