The tech firm overseeing the Arizona ballot recount withdraws, saying, “They were done.”
The audit no longer involves the Pennsylvania-based IT firm that was in charge of managing the manual recount of votes in Maricopa County.
According to Randy Pullen, a spokeswoman for the audit and a former state GOP chair, the contract with Wake Technology Services, Inc. expired on May 14—the intended completion date for the hand count—and the firm decided not to renew it.
They were finished, he declared. “They weren’t interested in returning.”
Under the direction of Cyber Ninjas, the primary contractor for the state Senate handling the overall audit of the county’s general election results, Wake TSI designed and monitored the procedures for recounting the almost 2.1 million ballots in the county.
Due to the coliseum’s high school graduation ceremonies, the audit was suspended from May 14 to Monday.
Pullen reported that Scottsdale-based technology firm StratTech Solutions took over Monday, utilizing Wake’s protocols, to do the hand count.
According to Pullen, the business has been participating in the audit from the start, including assisting in setting up the equipment for the hand count operations. It’s unclear if the company, which focuses on internet technologies and cybersecurity, has any election or auditing expertise.
The unorthodox audit has undergone multiple adjustments since it started on April 23. The change in contractors is the most major modification to date.
Former U.S. Department of Commerce acting director of testing and certification Ryan Macias This indicates the “continuation of the mismanagement and continual change which we have been monitoring since the beginning,” according to the Election Assistance Commission, which has been watching the audit for the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office.
However, Senate President Karen Fann, a Republican from Prescott, claimed that the firm had fulfilled its contract’s requirements and that she had been informed last week that it would not be coming back.
She explained that they are no longer required to remain there because their contract has ended.
The Wake TSI co-founder Gene Kern, who was assisting with the hand count, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.