It would be improper for Maricopa County audit their own ballots. Ideally, that would be done by an outside, independent, dis-interested, accredited auditing firm without conflicts of interests.
There are a couple of issues:
- auditing the ballot counts
- auditing the legalities and potential illegalities of election rule changes made outside the states' legislative processes and/or states' constitutional processes.
Unfortunately both issues would subject to a drawn-out resolution of findings, appeals, and eventual state or Federal supreme court adjudications by accountants and lawyers who bill by the hour.
Pursuing state election reforms in a manner consistent with state constitutions and state and Federal civil rights protections is a valid way to proceed in the leap up to the 2022 and 2024 elections.
These state law modifications could include a state requirement for a post-election audits to validate that all applicable state laws, policies, and procedures were followed and while preserving the state and Federal civil rights protections applicable at the time ballots were distributed and collected.
At no point should any ballot be in the possession of any party other than those authorized by state elections laws, presumably the voter and an agent of the government (local, county, state, US Postal service.) 3rd party ballot harvesting is rife with opportunities for impropriety. All ballot distribution, collection, and counting processes should maintain paper records to act as backup to any automated processes. State election laws should also cover contingincies that may interfere with a voter's access to a ballot - acts of nature, God, and government that necessitate the legal declaration of state of emergency by state government officials.