Maricopa County supervisors take Senate President Karen Fann to the woodshed (again)

The truth has a difficult time standing up to misinformation, wild conspiracies and debunked fraud claims when they are repeated over and over and over again.

We’ve seen truth take a beating.

We’ve seen it get knocked down and dragged through the mud by former President Donald Trump and his minions, many of them right here in Arizona.

But don’t worry, truth, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has your back.

The board did not stand by silently this week when Republican Arizona Senate President Karen Fann, the person most responsible for hiring the inept Cyber Ninjas to conduct a sham audit of Arizona’s election, went on local TV and unloaded, again, a great steaming pile of politically motivated horse pucky.

Supervisors Chairman Jack Sellers issued a statement on Tuesday that takes apart Fann’s fantasies point by point.

Sellers debunks Fann's accusations

He begins: “Senate President Karen Fann clings to a fiction that something went wrong in the 2020 General Election because it supports her outrageous expenditures on the poorly planned and executed ‘audit.’ She repeats it in front of friendly live audiences, right-wing media pundits, and now in an interview on a respected local television news program. In her interview with Scott Pasmore, she repeated debunked accusations that defame our hardworking election employees saying election laws were not followed.”

The board, which is also dominated by Republicans, has refused to bend to the political pressures of those who are willing to trash the proven integrity of Arizona’s election system in order to bolster their political loyalty to Trump.

You should read Sellers’ two-page dressing down of Fann.

Here are just a few examples.

He quotes Fann saying on TV, “We do know the chain of custody wasn’t followed … ”.

Sellers answers, “Maricopa County has robust chain of custody documentation for ballots. What Senate President Fann failed to say was that the Senate never asked for those records. From precinct ballot reports, to ballot courier documentation, to early voting transmittal slips to tabulator logs, Maricopa County ensures ballots are tracked and security is upheld.”

Claims are based on 'faulty analysis and assumptions'

He quotes Fann as saying, “We know they did not follow procedures on some of the duplicate ballots … ”.

Sellers answers, “Maricopa County follows all federal and state laws when conducting elections. Senate President Fann says she ‘knows’ many things based on the faulty analysis and assumptions made by the Cyber Ninjas. Their lack of understanding was turned into ‘anomalies’ and false conclusions.”

And he adds, “The accuracy and completeness of Maricopa County’s duplication process was confirmed in court, something Senate President Fann failed to share. The Arizona Supreme Court concluded unanimously on December 9, 2020 that ‘the challenge fails to present any evidence of “misconduct,” “illegal votes” or that the Biden Electors “did not in fact receive the highest number of votes for office,” let alone establish any degree of fraud or a sufficient error rate that would undermine the certainty of the election results.’ ”

It goes on.

Expect more debunking from the county

And Sellers promises not to quit.

He says “the continued spread of misinformation is not a way to rebuild trust or improve elections,” and adds, “Soon the Board of Supervisors will receive a technical response from our Elections Department that addresses the many other falsehoods in the Cyber Ninjas’ reports. We look forward to receiving this information and sharing it with the public.”

There is an often-quoted saying from the Bible that goes, “The truth will set you free.”

I believe that.

But I’ve always thought there should be a comma at the end of that sentence, and the addition of one word:

Eventually.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Maricopa County supervisors take Karen Fann to the woodshed ... again