Advocacy groups seek federal ban on Cyber Ninjas business

Advocacy groups in Arizona are requesting that U.S. officials ban a Florida-based firm, hired to conduct a ballot review of the 2020 presidential election in Maricopa County, from working with the federal government.

In a letter sent to the Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee on Monday, the groups asked for the debarment of the company, citing a number of reasons the firm, Cyber Ninjas, isn’t fit to conduct such election-related reviews. 

The advocacy groups mentioned how the firm’s work in Arizona did not meet election auditing standards and how it dismissed a court order to release public records related to its ballot review in Arizona. 

“If Cyber Ninjas is permitted to continue engaging in publicly-funded operations, the company will continue to undermine confidence in our federal elections,” the groups said in the letter.

“The damage Cyber Ninjas has already wreaked under its Arizona State Senate contract, along with the potential for future harm should Cyber Ninjas continue to operate as a federal government contractor, necessitate debarring Cyber Ninjas,” the groups added.

The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law sent the letter on behalf of the groups, which include All Voting Is Local Arizona, Arizona Democracy Resource Center, Living United for Change Arizona and Mi Familia Vota.

The advocacy groups also cited how the firm’s CEO, Doug Logan, made comments on social media that the 2020 presidential election was rigged. The groups added that despite having no previous election auditing experience, Logan and his firm were still hired to do the job.

“Doug Logan’s involvement in the Arizona Senate’s audit in spite of his inability to lead an impartial audit exemplifies his own lack of the integrity and business ethics necessary to be deemed presently responsible,” the groups said in the letter.

Arizona is one of several states where Republican candidates running for secretary of state in the 2022 midterms have supported former President Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was rigged and that there was widespread voter fraud.

Trump has endorsed a few of these candidates for secretary of state, including Arizona state Rep. Mark Finchem (R), who attended “Stop the Steal” rallies in January. Finchem was among several Republican politicians who attended a QAnon conference in Las Vegas in October.

The firm announced in January that it was ceasing its business after eight years of service. The announcement came after an Arizona judge ordered the company to pay $50,000 a day until it turned over records from its review to The Arizona Republic, which sued the firm and the Arizona Senate in June 2021 for the records.

However, an expert from the Brennan Center for Justice claims that the firm is technically still in business because it actively maintains a corporate registration in Florida and has recently filed an annual report, hence their pursuit to have the company debarred by the federal government.

“Cyber Ninjas’ recent entity registration in Florida directly contradicts their assertion that they went out of business,” the expert told The Hill in a statement. 

Updated 8:07 p.m.