The Gaggle: Where does the Maricopa County election audit stand right now?

The ballot review of Maricopa County’s 2.1 million ballots from the 2020 election has gone on for 16 weeks. The recounting and scanning has come to an end though. The pallets of ballots have left the Veterans Memorial Coliseum and are back at the county’s Elections Department.

It also has become clear who is paying for the review: Pro-Trump, conservative groups aligned with the "Stop the Steal" effort that preceded the Jan. 6 march on the U.S. Capitol that led to a deadly riot.

A final report of what Cyber Ninjas found during the audit is expected to come in the next few weeks. Arizona Senate President Karen Fann has said the review has never been about overturning the results of the election. Instead, she has said it’s about examining election procedures and to help ensure the election was conducted fairly and with integrity. She and other lawmakers have indicated they intend to use the results of the review to help pass election-related laws. 

In this week's episode of The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, co-hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ron Hansen are joined by two Arizona Republic reporters: Jen Fifield and Mary Jo Pitzl to help dissect the state of the ballot recount.

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