An Arizona Republic reporter was ejected Friday during an audit of the state\u2019s presidential ballots after he snapped a photo of U.S. Capitol rally agitator and former Arizona Rep. Anthony Kern\u00a0(R) reviewing ballots.<\/p>\n
Kern\u2019s own name is also on the ballots he was auditing. He ran for reelection last year and placed last in the three-way race, losing his seat. He was also listed as a presidential elector for\u00a0Donald Trump, according to the Republic.<\/p>\n
The review of 2.1 million votes cast in Maricopa County is only auditing the tally for the presidency and the U.S. Senate, the races won by Democrats.<\/p>\n
Kern has insisted that Trump\u2019s defeat was fraudulent. While he was still a representative, he signed a \u201cjoint resolution\u201d with fellow Republican lawmakers in a bid to invalidate the state\u2019s election results.<\/p>\n
Kern was photographed in the crowd during the Jan. 6 siege in Washington, the Arizona Republic reported.<\/p>\n
More than 40 Democrats in the Arizona state Legislature called on the Justice Department\u00a0to investigate Kern after the Capitol siege. His \u201cown social media posts strongly suggest\u201d that Kern was \u201cpresent at the riot in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, and actively encouraged the mob, both before and during the attack on the Capitol,\u201d the letter said.<\/p>\n
He later \u201cblamed antifa,\u201d the letter noted.<\/p>\n
Kern refused to turn over his cellphone so investigators could examine his emails and text messages related to his travel to the Capitol that day, Newsweek reported.<\/p>\n
Kern has denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
The CEO of Cyber Ninjas, the Florida-based firm that Arizona\u2019s Republican Senate has hired to manage the audit process, told reporters last week that workers were screened to ensure \u201cthere was nothing on their social media or other details that showed strong opinions one way or another.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Cyber Ninjas itself is headed by founder Doug Logan, a\u00a0promoter of the \u201cBig Lie\u201d\u00a0conspiracy theory that the presidential election was stolen. Months before the process started, Logan retweeted messages claiming that an audit would find hundreds of thousands of new votes for Trump.<\/p>\n
Voter and civil rights organizations are so alarmed that they\u2019ve written to the Justice Department for federal monitors out of fear that ballots will be damaged, stolen, altered or lost.<\/p>\n
Ejected reporter Ryan Randazzo tweeted that he was initially allowed at the recount location at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum an hour late. He witnessed a confusing shuffling of boxes stuffed with ballots that were examined with no obvious organization.<\/p>\n
But then Randazzo tweeted that he was kicked out after posting the photo of Kern.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for the recount operation said Randazzo was ejected because he took a photo of a ballot.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe tweeted out a tweet that included a picture of a ballot. We are being extremely cautious based on the judge\u2019s decision. He doesn\u2019t want ballot images made public,\u201d Ken Bennett, a former GOP secretary of state who has been serving as the Republican state Senate\u2019s liaison for the controversial process, told the Arizona Republic.<\/p>\n
But political reporter Jermey Duda tweeted that journalists agreed not to photograph ballots with discernible markings. He said there was no agreement not to photograph faces.<\/p>\n
The audit findings will have no effect on President Joe Biden\u2019s victory in the state by a 0.3-point margin, which has long been officially certified. But claims of new votes for Trump could undermine faith in a legitimate election and lead to further unrest.<\/p>\n