Did the Arizona election audit cost taxpayers millions of dollars?

The audit of Maricopa County’s 2020 election results cost taxpayers about $4 million, with the remainder covered by private funds from nonprofits and supporters of former President Donald Trump. Records obtained by American Oversight, a nonpartisan, nonprofit watchdog, indicate the partisan audit cost nearly $9 million in total operating costs and contract agreements.

Cyber Ninjas, a small cybersecurity consulting firm led by Doug Logan, was hired by the Arizona Senate to hand recount all 2.1 million ballots cast in Maricopa County and forensically review electronic voting machines. Initially, the Senate authorized $150,000 for security contractors, yet the final cost of the audit expanded to millions of dollars, much of that to replace voting machines that might have been compromised in the process.