The Justice Department is warning Arizona’s Republican-ordered recount of the 2020 presidential election results in Maricopa County could be violating federal voting and civil rights laws. Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs said observers have witnessed ballots and laptops left unattended and untrained workers using inconsistent procedures. The private company hired by the Arizona Republican Party to carry out the audit, called Cyber Ninjas, also says it has been directly contacting voters to verify voter registrations, which could constitute voter intimidation.

In addition, Cyber Ninjas — whose CEO has openly promoted conspiracy theories about the election, including from prominent QAnon figures — is far behind the May 14 deadline to finish the audit. As of Wednesday, only about 10% of the 2.1 million ballots had been counted. The Veterans Memorial Coliseum at the Arizona State Fairgrounds said that all elections materials must be vacated on May 14, but auditors now say they will just pause, then resume the count, if needed.

Meanwhile, New York Congressmember Elise Stefanik, whom top Republicans have backed to replace Liz Cheney in her leadership role, said on Steve Bannon’s podcast Thursday she supports the Arizona recount.