Two senior Democrats on the House Oversight Committee want answers from the company running the politicized “audit” of Maricopa County, Arizona’s 2020 election results.
House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who chairs the panel’s subcommittee on civil rights to civil liberties, wrote to Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan — who before this past election had no experience in the world of election administration — with a lengthy request for information.
“We are concerned about your company’s role in this highly unusual effort, given Cyber Ninjas’ apparent lack of experience in conducting election-related audits; reports that the company engaged in sloppy and insecure audit practices that compromised the integrity of ballots and voting equipment and were questioned by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ); and evidence that you and other individuals funding the audit have sought to advance the ‘big lie’ of debunked voter fraud allegations in the November 2020 presidential election,” they wrote.
The audit has, in fact, been a disaster, running on weeks past its initial deadline, and costing Maricopa County millions of dollars in voting machines that the county decided to replace due to concerns about the auditors’ handling of them.
Logan, who’s posted wild conspiracy theories online about the 2020 election and had previous ties to the QAnon-supporting pro-Trump lawyer Lin Wood, hasn’t been shy about his views — even appearing in a conspiracy theory documentary starring one of the primary fundraisers for the audit, former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne.
“Your company’s actions also may have introduced significant errors into the audit process,” Maloney and Raskin wrote to Logan, noting recent comments from state Senate President Karen Fann (R) — who authorized the audit and selected Cyber Ninjas for the job in the first place — said Tuesday that the “audit” vote numbers don’t match the county’s sum.
The committee asked for more than two pages of materials from Cyber Ninjas, including records on the company’s ownership and past election experience, funding mechanisms for the audit, and “all documents and communications related to conducting the Maricopa County Audit.” It also asked for all communications the company had with a long list of people, including the former president and members of his administration, campaign, legal team or political action committee, representatives of the various groups privately fundraising for the audit, and others including Sidney Poewll, Michael Flynn and Mike Lindell.
They also asked for records related to allegations that Cyber Ninjas has investigated as part of the audit — including searching for bamboo and watermarks in ballot paper.
A spokesperson for Cyber Ninjas didn’t respond to TPM’s request for comment on the letter. The Oversight Committee set a July 28 deadline to produce the requested documents.
