Maricopa County Republicans are calling on Arizona GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward to resign, following the release of the state Senate’s election audit that certified President Biden’s 2020 victory.
County Supervisor Clint Hickman urged Gov. Doug Ducey and other top state officials to call on Mrs. Ward to leave her position.
“She has caused a fracture in our party. She has operated outside of it for the purpose of helping herself,” Mr. Hickman said Friday in an interview with KTAR News.
Mrs. Ward echoed former President Donald Trump’s unproven claims that the 2020 election was mired in fraud, urging the state Legislature to conduct a controversial audit in Maricopa County.
A report by Cyber Ninjas, who was hired by Arizona Senate Republicans to conduct the audit, confirmed Mr. Biden’s victory with a hand count and showed a net gain of more than 300 votes for him.
The report, however, outlined a series of alleged discrepancies related to mail-in ballots and duplicate ballots.
Supervisor Bill Gates backed his colleague’s calls to urge Mrs. Ward to resign her post amid the findings.
“The [Arizona GOP]’s done nothing but push lies about our electoral system, ignore down-ballot races, and lose federal and state elections under her leadership,” Mr. Gates tweeted on Friday.
Mr. Trump, who has touted Mrs. Ward as a fighter for months, billed the audit results as a victory for himself, despite the report confirming his loss.
“The audit has uncovered significant and undeniable evidence of fraud. I have heard it is far different than that being reported by the fake news media,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump, Mrs. Ward, and others who have raised concerns about the election and the audit findings are pushing Arizona to “decertify” its election results, upon the inconsistencies alleged by the report.
In a Saturday tweet, Mrs. Ward posted a photo of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, attacking them for certifying the election results.
“These men will go down in history as the fools who certified an uncertifiable election in Maricopa County, Arizona,” Mrs. Ward tweeted. “The historic, first ever #FullForensicAudit proved unequivocally that we have no idea who got the most legal votes in 2020. #Decertify.”
• Mica Soellner can be reached at msoellner@washingtontimes.com.
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