Arizona attorney general finds ‘vulnerabilities,’ but says no mass fraud in 2020 election

An interim report from Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s (R) investigation into Maricopa County’s 2020 election results is reporting “serious vulnerabilities” but is not alleging that mass fraud occurred.

In a letter to Arizona Senate President Karen Fann (R), Brnovich said the attorney general’s Election Integrity Unit probe into Arizona’s largest county has revealed “serious vulnerabilities that must be addressed and raises questions about the 2020 election in Arizona.”

But the 12-page letter to Fann did not appear to provide evidence that wrongdoing had occurred, saying the review is ongoing and that “we are therefore limited in what we can disclose about specific criminal and civil investigations.”

Brnovich alleged that the review had found “instances of election fraud by individuals who have been or will be prosecuted for various election crimes,” though it did not provide further information beyond a hyperlink.

Brnovich also cited an election challenge that was ultimately tossed out in which two different experts maintained that a small sum of ballots out of 100 examined were inconclusive. 

His report also claimed that their review “uncovered multiple violations of ballot transportation procedures,” including 381 forms from 1,895 early voting ballot transportation statements that had missing required information. 

But he used the point to further allege that “in other words, it is possible that somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 ballots were transported without a proper chain of custody.”

The interim report was slammed by Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates and Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer in a joint statement on Wednesday.

“The Attorney General’s interim report about the 2020 election in Maricopa County includes no new evidence, nothing that would have changed the results, and nothing that should lead people to question the overall health of our electoral system,” the two said. 

“The bottom line: the AG has not identified even a single instance where a ballot was accepted with a non-matching signature (or signature that was later cured),” they added.

The report is the latest of a series of investigations into Arizona’s election that have failed to find evidence of substantial fraud in the state, which voted for President Biden and Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in 2020.

However, even the state’s so-called audit conducted by the now-defunct company Cyber Ninjas last year affirmed Maricopa County’s official canvass. 

Former President Trump and his allies continue to falsely claim that widespread voter fraud occurred during the last presidential election, including in Arizona.