Pennsylvania Legislators Travel to Arizona to Observe Election Audit

Former Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett (R) works with others to move ballots from the 2020 general election during an audit at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, Ariz., on May 1, 2021. Courtney Pedroza/Getty Images

A delegation from Pennsylvania is set on Wednesday to tour the audit taking place in Arizona’s largest county.

The delegation will visit the Arizona Capitol to meet with members of the Arizona Legislature before touring the audit at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

“I kind of see this as a fact-finding mission to see what’s happening on the ground in Arizona, how it’s happening and if it’s something that should be done in other states,” Pennsylvania state Rep. Rob Kauffman told The Epoch Times.

Pennsylvania state Sens. Doug Mastriano and Cris Dush were also traveling to the state.

All three lawmakers are Republicans.

Asked if the trip could lead to a similar audit in Pennsylvania, Dush told The Epoch Times, “I can’t say that yet, but if we bring some substantial information back with us I could see it happening.”

Kauffman said his inbox has been filled each time he opens it with people who are clamoring for an Arizona-style forensic audit in Pennsylvania.

Ken Bennett, the Arizona Senate’s audit liaison, told The Epoch Times that he did not have further information on the visit beyond what his team posted on Twitter on Tuesday.

The Arizona Senate ordered the audit after the 2020 election. Months of court battles ensued, with Maricopa County resisting subpoenas of ballots, machines, and other election materials. The county ultimately handed over most of the subpoenaed materials after a judge sided with the state Senate. The audit started on April 23. Auditors are about halfway through the nearly 2.1 million ballots cast in the county in the presidential election.

Arizona Senate President Karen Fann of the GOP has said the audit is not an attempt to change the election results, but to identify any problems in the election system and fix them for future contests.

Democrats largely oppose the audit but have not been successful in stopping it. Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, has repeatedly expressed concern that the Arizona audit could lead to similar efforts in other states.

A number of Republicans responded favorably to the news of the Pennsylvania delegation visiting Arizona.

“Good to see the PA legislature making moves...I wonder what got them moving? #affidavits from the People? maybe ;),” Josh Barnett, a business owner who is running Congress as a Republican wrote on Twitter.

Others criticized the move, alleging the audit is partisan and not proper.

Maricopa County ballots cast in the 2020 general election are examined and recounted by contractors working for Florida-based company, Cyber Ninjas, at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, Arizona, on May 6, 2021. Matt York/Pool/AP Photo

Mastriano asked for an audit in Fulton County, Pennsylvania, and it was conducted by Wake Technology Services, which was working for weeks on the Maricopa County audit, according to county records. The results of the audit were recently released.

Dush and Kauffman in November 2020 called for a statewide audit of the election, citing reports from the media and from Pennsylvanians about potential fraud.

“Over the last several days, stories coming from local and national media outlets as well as personal reports made to our offices reveal a multitude of claims surrounding the integrity of the recent elections in Pennsylvania. Irregularities and inconsistencies associated with the conduct of the elections together with accusations of barriers to the transparent tabulation of election results warrant a closer and more comprehensive examination than state agencies have thus far undertaken,” the lawmakers wrote in a joint statement.

Kauffman and other Pennsylvania Republicans the following month said that an analysis of election data revealed “troubling discrepancies“ between the vote count and the total number of voters.

Former Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, a Democrat, dismissed allegations of irregularities. She announced in February that a risk-limiting audit pilot of the election supported the results.

Workers reviewed over 45,000 randomly selected ballots and the results of the sample mirrored the election results, she said.

Democrat Joe Biden won both Pennsylvania and Arizona. Republican Donald Trump had won the states in 2016.

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to reflect the results of the Fulton County, Pennsylvania audit have been released.