Ken Bennett expects audit of Maricopa County ballots to meet deadline

PHOENIX — The Senate liaison for the audit of Maricopa County election results said he expects all 2.1 million ballots to be counted by the time the contract is up at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in two weeks.

Ken Bennett, who is also a former Republican secretary of state in Arizona, said approximately 150,000 ballots had been inspected as of Thursday morning.

That was up from about 100,000 on Wednesday. The Senate’s audit started Friday and the Phoenix facility is being rented out until May 14.

“With the progress we’re making, I believe we can get the 2.1 million ballots counted during the time that we’re here at the Coliseum,” Bennett told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show.

Bennett said contractors are making daily improvements to speed up the process.

They have 15 days to finish counting the nearly 1.9 million remaining ballots, an average of about 125,000 per day that would need attention.

It’s unknown if counting will continue on Sundays moving forward. The audit team paused last Sunday to let workers rest.

“So if you look back the last two or three days and say, well, how much have we done in those two days and then project that forward… no that that’s not gonna add up, but they are making improvements every day,” Bennett said.

Conspiracy theories about the election have proliferated in Arizona and nationwide since Joe Biden’s victory over former President Donald Trump.

After repeated reviews of the election results in Maricopa County found no issues that would overturn Biden’s narrow victory in Arizona, a judge ruled the Senate could access Maricopa County’s 2.1 million ballots for a hand recount.

Biden won Arizona last year by 10,457 votes and won in Maricopa County by 45,109 votes.

The Senate audit can’t overturn the results of the election.

The public can watch the audit process online.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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