Maricopa County:  This large county is located in the south-central part of the state of Arizona. It encompasses several major metropolitan centers, including the city of Phoenix. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates its population was over 4.5 million in 2020, more than half Arizona’s total. and it is greater in land area than the state of New Jersey.   

Maricopa County, Arizona, is very much in the news.  The Republican controlled Arizona Senate approved an audit of that county’s voting in the 2020 Presidential election.  Despite a massive Democrat effort to stop or sabotage it, that audit is now underway.

Not being familiar with Arizona politics, I did not understand all the furor.  Why were Republicans so insistent on the audit?  Why were Democrats so determined to stop it?

On Wednesday morning, April 28, I read an article by Joe Hoft on the conservative blog Gateway Pundit.

According to Mr. Hoft, these are the facts.

• Biden and Harris were unable to generate any excitement in Arizona during the run-up to the election.  Both Biden and Harris were in Phoenix a month before the election, and there was virtually no one in attendance.  On the other hand, Trump’s Arizona supporters turned out in great numbers even when Trump himself was not present.  The enthusiasm gap was obvious to all observers
• On November 3, 2020, Biden became the first Democrat Presidential candidate to win Arizona since Bill Clinton won in 1996.  He was the first to win Maricopa County since Harry Truman in 1948.
• In 2016, Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in Maricopa County by 84,804 votes.  Four years later, while unable to generate any voter enthusiasm, Biden managed to exceed Hillary’s Maricopa vote total by more than 104,000 while Trump received approximately 26,000 fewer votes than in 2016 and lost the county by 45,000.
• When Arizona was called for Biden on election night, Republican observers could not believe it.  Their projections had confidently predicted a Trump victory, and his supporters were in a state of shock.
• Biden won the entire state by a margin of 10,457 votes out of over 3.3 million ballots cast, a 100 thousand vote swing since 2016. In Hoft’s opinion, it was either a miracle or a massive cheat.

The audit should provide some clarity so long as the Democrats are unable to stop it.  We may have answers in another month or so.