No.
An “audit” of 2020 election results commissioned by Arizona’s Republican-led Senate in 2021 did not find that then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs inserted fraudulent mail-in ballots into the election count.
The partisan review of Maricopa County’s handling of the presidential election—conducted by Cyber Ninjas, a now-defunct cybersecurity company—did indicate a discrepancy between the number of mail-in ballots counted and the number received. County election officials later pointed out that the audit committee had inaccurately conflated mail-in ballots and early votes. In Arizona, early votes include ballots cast in person and by mail.
The audit committee at no point claimed Hobbs was responsible for the ballot imbalance.
Auditors ultimately concluded the total ballot count differed only slightly and inconsequentially from the count initially presented by Maricopa County. No evidence currently suggests widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs, or quick-response fact checks, about trending claims relating to Arizona.
Sources
- Arizona Secretary of State, 2021 Senate “Audit” Letters
- Congress, Committee Hearings — “Assessing the Election ‘Audit’ in Arizona and Threats to American Democracy”
- Maricopa County, X (Formerly Twitter)
- Arizona Senate Republicans (Via Youtube), Senate Hearing on the Election Audit in Maricopa County
- USA Today, Arizona early votes falsely cited as evidence of voter fraud
- Maricopa County, Auditing Election Equipment in Maricopa County
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The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting is partnering with Gigafact to produce timely fact briefs, or quick-response fact checks, about trending claims relating to Arizona.
