Out-of-state Republicans are visiting Arizona to see the partisan election "audit" ordered by GOP state senators, raising concerns that similar efforts may be ordered elsewhere to question Donald Trump's election loss.
Three Pennsylvania legislators visited Maricopa County last week, and Nevada GOP officials toured Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix and met with the Florida-based Cyber Ninjas firm reviewing the election results, despite a worrying lack of qualifications and a CEO who spreads election fraud conspiracies, reported NPR.
Georgia state Sens. Burt Jones and Brandon Beach will "meet with Arizona audit leaders and state senators to get a blueprint for a statewide forensic audit in Georgia," tweeted conservative radio host John Fredericks.
The two Georgia Republicans and the state's GOP chairman also toured the ongoing investigation with a state representative from Alaska, and the following day Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones, who's mounting a primary challenge to Gov. Brian Kemp, also toured the coliseum.
Lawmakers from Wisconsin and Virginia may visit later this week, according to Randy Pullen, a former Arizona GOP chair who's serving as spokesman for the so-called audit.
Most of the visitors expressed interest in conducting similar efforts to look for evidence of fraud, which Trump continues to claim deprived him of re-election despite assurances from his own appointees and other Republican officials that the election was the most secure in U.S. history.
Pullen has been stingy with details about the visits and a Cyber Ninjas spokesman did not respond to questions about who's arranging the tours, but their attorneys have argued in court that they expect their work in Maricopa County to be the first of many "similar business opportunities" elsewhere.
Arizona Senate President Karen Fann, who ordered the review and hired Cyber Ninjas, told CNN the process would be the "gold standard" for election audits.
However, Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs has called the process a "joke" and said it's plagued by problems and irregularities that undermine any evidence the reviewers claim to find.
