Arizona auditors backtrack, say no election data destroyed

PHOENIX (AP) — Firms hired to run a partisan audit of the 2020 election for Senate Republicans in Arizona said Tuesday that data was not destroyed, reversing earlier allegations that election officials in the state's most populated county eliminated evidence.

The claim of deleted databases was amplified by former President Donald Trump and his supporters, who believe conspiracy theories about election irregularities.

Ben Cotton, founder of a computer forensics firm working on the audit, told key senators that he had recovered all data. The revelation came a day after Maricopa County officials released a scathing letter saying the auditors couldn't find the data because they didn't know where to look.

“I have the information I need from the recovery efforts of the data,” said Cotton, founder of CyFIR LLC.

He spoke at a livestreamed hearing called by Republican Senate President Karen Fann to demand answers from county officials about the allegation of deleted data and improper documentation of ballot storage.

The GOP-controlled county Board of Supervisors refused to show up, instead holding a blistering meeting of their own Monday to refute the allegations. They called the audit a “sham” and said Fann's auditors are incompetent.

After Trump complained without evidence that his loss in Arizona was marred by fraud, Fann used the Senate's subpoena power to take control of 2.1 million ballots, counting machines and hard drives full of data from Maricopa County, which includes the Phoenix area. She hired Cyber Ninjas, a firm led by a Trump supporter who has promoted conspiracy theories about the election, CyFIR and other firms to review the ballots and data.

The ballot count is on hold this week while the aging arena where it's taking place is used for high school...