A private investigation firm with a Lebanon address is participating in the Republican-funded review of presidential election ballots cast last November in Maricopa County, Arizona, the Arizona Republic reported.
A Republic story published on June 3 lists Haystack Investigations of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, as a subcontractor of Cyber Ninjas, the company hired by Arizona Senate Republicans to conduct the ballot review.
The newspaper reported it “obtained emails . . . showing that Haystack Investigations was attempting to arrange a subcontractor to run the ballot inspection work in early April, and Haystack Investigations is still involved.”
Haystack did not respond to the Republic’s requests for comment.
However, Haystack’s apparent owner, Heather Honey, answered a June 21 email from LebTown asking whether she and her firm are involved in the Arizona ballot review. Honey confirmed by stating “I am working under an NDA [non-disclosure agreement] so I cannot discuss the details of the audit.”
The Arizona ballot review is an examination of ballots cast in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, during the 2020 presidential election. It has been arranged and funded by the Arizona Senate Republican Caucus and conducted by private firms the caucus has selected.
The review has spawned controversy due to the involvement of supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Arizona Republicans refer to the proceeding as an “audit,” but critics argue that it doesn’t meet the widely accepted definition of the term and that using it lends legitimacy and the appearance of neutrality to a partisan effort.
Some Pennsylvania Republicans, including state Senator Doug Mastriano, a vocal supporter of Trump, have expressed interest in an Arizona-style ballot review here in the commonwealth. Mastriano visited Phoenix on June 2 to inspect the proceedings.
Haystack’s website lists its address as simply “Quentin Road Lebanon, PA 17042.”
According to the federal government’s System for Award Management (SAM) website, Haystack LLC is a sole proprietorship with a mailing address of “1451 Quentin Road, Suite 400-199, Lebanon, PA 17042,” that lists Honey as its “Point of Contact.”
The Quentin Road address is occupied by UPS Store 400, which rents mailboxes.
Pennsylvania Corporation Bureau records show that a “Haystack, LLC” was registered on Dec. 29, 2017, to a Marsha Siha of Houston, Texas. They do not show any business named Haystack with a Lebanon County address. SAM lists Haystack LLC’s “Entity Start Date” as Dec. 28, 2017. LebTown has so far been unable to determine conclusively if the Haystack LLC registered by Siha is the same as, or connected to, the Haystack LLC connected to Honey.
However, Siha appears to be an agent for scores of companies and legal records indicate Siha’s spouse operates a business formation company, Incfile, which may have been used by Honey to incorporate the firm and explain the connection between Siha, Honey, and Haystack. Haystack, LLC is registered with the Pennsylvania Department of State using the same address as Incfile’s corporate offices.
Lebanon Valley Chamber of Commerce President Karen Groh told LebTown that Haystack was a Chamber member between November, 2018 and March, 2020.
A biography published by the Pennsylvania Association of Licensed Investigators says that Honey is “an international investigator, open source intelligence analyst and security consultant with over 30 years of experience handling complex cases in private, corporate and government environments. She is the president of Haystack Investigations, a consulting and training firm specializing in fraud investigations, OSINT training, supply chain and loss prevention consulting.”
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