Source: Politics<\/p>\n
A successful ninja is unseen, unheard, stealthy.<\/p>\n
By that standard, the firm Cyber Ninjas \u2014 which Arizona Republicans chose to audit the ballots cast in 2020 in the Phoenix area \u2014 fits the bill: Almost no one involved in election or politics in Florida, the state where the company is headquartered, seems to have heard of it or knows anything about it.<\/p>\n
Nor do they know anything about Cyber Ninjas\u2019 founder, Doug Logan, who registered his firm in the southwest Florida city of Sarasota in 2014, state records show.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoug Logan? Cyber Ninjas? No. I don\u2019t know these guys. Never heard of them,\u201d said Christian Ziegler, vice chair of the Republican Party of Florida and a resident of Sarasota, echoing a dozen top Florida Republicans and elections professionals interviewed by POLITICO.<\/p>\n
The firm\u2019s relative anonymity is a curious anomaly in Florida, one of the nation\u2019s biggest battlegrounds, where top political players are typically familiar with companies that provide election services and technology.<\/p>\n
In a state like Florida \u2014 a place synonymous with razor-close elections and recounts for more than two decades \u2014 Cyber Ninjas\u2019 absence of name identification and its lack of experience in election audits among insiders stands out. And it calls into question Arizona Republicans\u2019 claim that the company is right for the controversial job of auditing the 2.1 million ballots cast in Maricopa County, which encompasses the Phoenix metro area. The 2020 presidential results there have drawn national attention as a result of baseless claims of election fraud.<\/p>\n
The Cyber Ninjas website does not indicate it has experience in election audits but instead markets itself to clients who want to be protected from hackers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile it often seems like [hackers] must be utilizing some dark ninja magic to accomplish their amazing feats; the reality is that most security breaches are conducted utilizing types of security vulnerabilities we\u2019ve known how to prevent for over 10 years,\u201d says the website, which features stock photos of ninjas and people at generic business meetings.<\/p>\n
The Cyber Ninjas-led audit is being pushed by the GOP-led Arizona Senate \u2014 leading dubious Arizona Democrats to refer to it as a \u201cfraudit.\u201d It\u2019s being largely conducted out of the view of reporters or independent observers<\/a>. Cyber Ninjas asked a judge<\/a> to keep the procedures of the process secret and also wanted to bar the press and public from the courtroom Monday for a hearing on the subject.<\/p>\n The so-called audit is one of the last dying gasps of Donald Trump\u2019s supporters who continue to cling to the fiction that widespread fraud cost him the presidency in 2020. That conspiracy theory was advanced on the social media accounts of Cyber Ninjas and Logan himself before the posts were stricken.<\/p>\n The new audit will not change the 2020 election results in the state or nation, but it stands to further fuel claims of fraud in the Arizona election results. <\/p>\n In recent days, Trump has repeatedly hyped up the review in written statements that have also attacked Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, whom the former president hasn\u2019t forgiven for his refusal to call the state\u2019s election results into question. Official results reported Trump lost the state by just over 10,000 votes.<\/p>\n The state has been an obsession for Trump ever since Election Night when Fox News was first to project that Joe Biden would win the once-red state \u2014 a result in sync with pre-election polling that showed Biden with a narrow lead. <\/p>\n Maricopa County, which is controlled by a majority-GOP board of supervisors, released a forensic audit<\/a> in February showing no irregularities were found.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, the GOP-controlled Arizona state Senate subpoenaed the ballots to do another review and hired four private firms to conduct the \u201caudit,\u201d which began Friday. Cyber Ninjas leads the team.<\/p>\n \u201cThese guys are well qualified, well experienced,” Arizona Senate President Karen Fann said of Cyber Ninjas, according to the Arizona Republic.<\/a><\/p>\n If the firm or Doug Logan gained that experience in Florida, it\u2019s news to top Republicans there.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019ve ever stumbled across him or the company,\u201d said Republican consultant Jamie Miller, a former state GOP executive director who lives in Sarasota.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never heard of it,\u201d said Republican Rep. Vern Buchanan, who first won his office in a squeaker of an election in 2006 marred by touchscreen voting machine problems. The state went on to ban the voting machines as a result of the congressional election.<\/p>\n Ben Gibson, a Republican attorney who represented Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis in Florida\u2019s 2018 senatorial and gubernatorial recounts, also hadn\u2019t heard of Cyber Ninjas until now. Same with the top Florida Republican consultants Roger Stone, Ryan Tyson and Anthony Pedicini. <\/p>\n Top Republican election law attorneys Tim Baker and Dan Nordby also told Politico that Cyber Ninjas rings no bells. Florida\u2019s top Democratic election law attorney, Mark Herron, said he only heard of the company when Rachel Maddow mentioned the name on her MSNBC show.<\/p>\n Barry Richard, who represented George W. Bush in Florida\u2019s famed 2000 presidential election recount, and J.C. Planas, a former Republican lawyer and veteran of recounts, also knew nothing of the company.<\/p>\n Logan did not return calls or an email for comment. It\u2019s unclear why his firm was chosen for the job.<\/p>\n