Arizona Republican demands a new audit after the Cyber Ninjas audit crashed and burned
Arizona Republican Kelli Ward. (Photo by Gage Skidmore/Flickr)

The Republican-backed "audit" of ballots in Maricopa County that Trump supporters were hoping to confirm widespread election fraud in Arizona has ended — and not only did it fail to find any substantial fraud, it actually slightly revised down the number of Trump ballots and up the number of Biden ballots.

But Arizona GOP chairwoman Kelli Ward had a different conclusion. On Friday, she called for a do-over of the whole thing.

"Dr. Shiva" is a reference to Shiva Ayyadurai, an election conspiracist and anti-vaccine truther who has claimed he was the inventor of email and that Dr. Anthony Fauci is a "Deep State" agent. He was hired by the Arizona State Senate to take part in the audit.

The audit swiftly grew controversial due to giving selective access to right-wing news organizations and for pursuing conspiracy theories, including hunting for bamboo fibers in ballots to prove they were forgeries from Asia. Even some Trump supporters, like right-wing talk radio host Mike Broomhead, ultimately turned on the effort.