BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: The 2021 Maricopa Audit Was a Crime Scene After 3 Days When Every Seal on Every Box Was Found Broken Before Review (Part II)

As previously reported, after the first three days of ballot review during the 2021 Maricopa County audit, the auditors identified that every single box reviewed had been previously opened and therefore tampered with.  

The Gateway Pundit reported earlier that the ballot boxes reviewed in the first three days alone during the audit had all been tampered with.  But this wasn’t highlighted in the letter sent to Maricopa County officials in May, 2021, from the Arizona Senate and signed by Karen Fann.

In this letter, the following was noted:

II. Chain of Custody and Ballot Organization Anomalies

As the audit has progressed, the Senate’s contractors have become aware of apparent omissions, inconsistencies, and anomalies relating to Maricopa County’s handling, organization, and storage of ballots. We hope you can assist us in understanding these issues, including specifically the following:

1. 1. 1. The County has not provided any chain-of-custody documentation for the ballots.  Does such documentation exist, and if so, will it be produced?
      2. The bags in which the ballots were stored are not sealed, although the audit team has found at the bottom of many boxes cut seals of the type that would have sealed a ballot bag. Why were these seals placed at the bottom of the boxes?
      3. Batches within a box are frequently separated by only a divider without any indication of the corresponding batch numbers. In some cases, the batch dividers are missing altogether. This lack of organization has significantly complicated and delayed the audit team’s ballot processing efforts. What are the County’s procedures for sorting, organizing, and packaging ballot batches?
      4. Most of the ballot boxes were sealed merely with regular tape and not secured by any kind of tamper-evident seal. Is that the County’s customary practice for storing ballots?
      5. The audit team has encountered a significant number of instances in which there is a disparity between the actual number of ballots contained in a batch and the total denoted on the pink report slip accompanying the batch. In most of these instances, the total on the pink report slip is greater than the number of ballots in the batch, although there are a few instances in which the total is lower. What are the reasons for these discrepancies? For your reference, please see several illustrative (i.e., not comprehensive) examples in the table below:

   Here is the letter from the Arizona Senate to the Maricopa County Supervisors

   Exclusive Letter to Maricop… by Jim Hoft

Notice that the Senate shared that the boxes received were in terrible condition with bags unsealed and broken seals but no data was provided related to the number and percent of boxes not complying with the chain of custody practices.  Other material issues related to the audit were identified and the ballot issues were somewhat hidden.

This wasn’t highlighted in the final audit reports either.  In the final reports prepared by the auditors, they also don’t mention the number of ballots that were related to boxes that were unsealed or included in boxes where the ballots were broken.  Ballot issues were noted but not tabulated.