In Maricopa County, Arizona, where like in the rest of the country the presidential election was over months ago, Republican state officials are leading a recount effort as part of some staggeringly desperate attempt to find fraud among ballots that have already been thoroughly examined without any systematic issues discovered. Specifically, the recount is being conducted by Republican state Senators, but now, one of the Republican state Senators who originally supported the effort thinks that “it could not end soon enough,” as summarized by The New York Times.
Republican state Senator Paul Boyer told the Times as follows, discussing the audit:
‘It makes us look like idiots. Looking back, I didn’t think it would be this ridiculous. It’s embarrassing to be a state senator at this point.’
The audit has already proven a haven for nonsensical claims. Workers have, according to one of the figures involved in the effort, searched for bamboo fibers on the basis of the idea that fraudulent ballots may have been shipped in from Asia. Obviously, there’s absolutely no real-world evidence for this conspiracy theory. Where do they even come up with this stuff? As part of the audit, workers have also examined ballots under UV lights on the basis of the conspiracy theory that valid ballots secretly have watermarks to distinguish them from supposed invalid ballots. The watermarks were secretly placed there by the Trump team, these theorists insist. Federal authorities do not handle the printing of presidential election ballots.
There have also been concerns about security issues associated with the audit effort. Apparently, frontline workers involved in the debacle have left materials unattended amidst the ballot re-examination, which obviously seriously compromises the integrity of any security sweep, let alone one already plagued with problems. In short — the Maricopa County audit has quickly turned into a mess defined by brazen incompetence, but no matter these developments, some Republicans are still holding onto the false and virulent idea that non-existent systematic election fraud was somehow responsible for Joe Biden’s election victory.
