/ Modified may 19, 2021 10:03 a.m.

Arizona auditors backtrack, say no election data destroyed

Announcement reverses earlier allegations that election officials eliminated evidence.

360 capitol museum The Arizona State Legislature in Phoenix.
Steve Riggs/AZPM Staff

Firms hired to run a partisan audit of the 2020 election for Senate Republicans in Arizona said Tuesday that data was not destroyed, reversing earlier allegations that election officials eliminated evidence.

The claim of deleted databases was amplified by former President Donald Trump and his supporters, who believe conspiracy theories about election irregularities.

On Tuesday, a data expert working on the audit team told senators he had recovered all data.

The revelation came a day after officials in Arizona's most populated county released a scathing letter saying the auditors couldn’t find the data because they weren’t looking in the right place.

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