Former Arizona AG Found No Evidence of 2020 Election Fraud. He Kept Quiet.

Former Republican Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich declined to publish investigative findings by his office that disproved 2020 election fraud claims, according to documents released February 22 by his Democratic successor, Attorney General Kris Mayes. 

Mayes, who assumed office in January, released three documents: a previously unreleased “interim findings summary,” a draft with staff comments of a published “interim report,” and a September memo summarizing the investigation’s conclusions. Brnovich’s team did not draft a final report, a Mayes spokesperson told The Washington Post.

According to the memo written by Reginald Grigsby, a senior agent in the Arizona attorney general’s office, Brnovich’s investigators assessed 638 complaints, opened 438 investigations, and as of September 2022, submitted 22 cases for prosecution. Though his team identified supposed structural and operational flaws in the state’s election procedures (outlined in the interim report), its unpublished findings debunked each theory that alleged significant—let alone potentially outcome-shifting—election-fraud theories tied to the state’s 2020 presidential election.

“Agents and support staff have spent more than 10,000 hours investigating allegations of voting irregularities and reviewing alleged instances of illegal voting submitted to our office by private parties.…In each instance and in each matter, [Cyber Ninjas Incorporated, True the Vote (TTV), Verity Vote, and elected officials] did not provide any evidence to support their allegations,” reads the memo. “The information that was provided was speculative in many instances and when investigated by our agents and support staff, was found to be inaccurate.”

State lawmakers who had publicly alleged fraud recanted when questioned by investigators. “In interviews with the various media outlets, Arizona State Senator Sonny Borrelli alleged there was a cover-up with regards to election irregularities,” reads Grigsby’s memo, which also adds that “In an interview with agents, he did not repeat that allegation.” Similarly, the memo says, then State Representative Mark Finchem publicly alleged more than 30,000 fraudulent votes. Speaking to Brnovich’s office, however, Finchem said “he did not have any evidence of fraud and he did not wish to take up our (investigators’) time.”

The memo also