Arizona Senate's liaison to ballot audit says he's stepping down

Ken Bennett, the former Republican secretary of state in Arizona, said Wednesday that he is planning to step down from his role as the state Senate's liaison to the ongoing audit of Maricopa County's 2020 election.

Bennett has been one of the most public facing officials of the audit since it began in April. Republicans in the Arizona Senate ordered the audit to be conducted despite previous post-election audits that confirmed Maricopa County's election results. Bennett was locked out of the audit last Friday after he shared information about an ongoing third count of the total number of ballots cast in the county with an outside group of consultants. He said he cannot continue to be part of a process that lacks transparency.