Arizona Senate agrees to pay $153K settlement over 2020 election audit

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - The Arizona Senate and Cyber Ninjas reached a settlement agreement late last month regarding the 2020 election audit, and taxpayers are on the hook for the bill. In documents released on Wednesday, the Senate has to pay American Oversight, Inc. $153,000 over its public records lawsuit linked to the audit.

In the spring of 2021, American Oversight filed a lawsuit to get the Senate to release records from GOP-run 2020 election review of ballots in Maricopa County. In December 2021, Cyber Ninjas, the Senate’s lead contractor for the audit, was added as a defendant in December 2021. The lawsuit, along with one from the Arizona Republic, forced the Senate to release more than 20,000 documents from the audit. However, it still withheld all or parts of another 1,000 records, citing legislative privilege. The case went all the way to the Arizona Supreme Court, where judges agreed with the Senate.

American Oversight said it went into the settlement after successfully bringing “much-needed transparency” to the audit. The organization added the documents that were released show the review’s “exorbinant costs” and the election conspiracy theorists that were involved.