In a joint statement released by Arizona Senate President Karen Fann and Arizona State Senate Audit Liaison Ken Bennett on Friday, the two confirmed the former Arizona Secretary of State will continue to serve as the Senate’s liaison to the ongoing audit.
Further, Fann promised that Bennett will be granted “full access” to all aspects of the forensic audit, after Bennett threatened to leave the post earlier this week.
As previously reported by The Arizona Sun Times, Bennett had gone back and forth over his decision to bow out of the audit. In his reasoning, he claimed that he had been repeatedly excluded from overseeing critical aspects of the audit and barred access to the building.
“Former Arizona Secretary of State and past Senate President Ken Bennett has been and will continue serving as the Senate’s Liaison to the audit. With his expertise in Arizona elections and his firsthand knowledge of the ongoing audit, Ken and the Senate team will have full access to all audit work spaces, procedures, and data as we verify the draft findings when completed,” Fann and Bennett said in a joint statement.
In the statement, Fann detailed that Bennett will play a key role in drafting the final reports of the conclusions of the audit.
Fann also highlighted the benefits of the anticipated findings.
“To ensure that the people of Arizona have the utmost confidence in their elections, the Arizona Senate has been conducting an audit of the November 2020 General Election for Maricopa County. The audit is being done to identify strengths and weaknesses in our election laws and procedures, confirm whether the highest standards of integrity and accuracy were executed in this election, and recommend any changes or improvements that are needed in our elections going forward,” she continued.
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Cooper Moran is a reporter for the Star News Network. Follow Cooper on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Ken Bennett” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
