Settlement reached in Arizona Senate vote count

PHOENIX — Arizona Republicans who had alleged the state’s two biggest counties were illegally counting some ballots changed course Friday and agreed to settle their lawsuit if rural voters also get an extra chance to fix problems with ballots cast in the state’s tight U.S. Senate race.

The settlement was technically between Republicans and the state’s county recorders, but Democrats and civil rights groups who had jumped into the fray agreed to it as it was announced in a Phoenix courtroom Friday afternoon. Arizona’s 15 counties now have until Nov. 14 to address the issue, which state Elections Director Eric Spencer said likely affects fewer than 10,000 votes out of more than 2.3 million cast statewide.

The Republican lawsuit said the state’s county recorders don’t follow a uniform standard for allowing voters to address problems with the signatures on their mail-in ballots, and that Maricopa and Pima counties improperly allow the fixes for up to five days after Election Day.

The lawsuit settlement in a courtroom packed with more than a dozen lawyers and a host of reporters came a day after Democrat Kyrsten Sinema jumped into a slight lead over Republican Martha McSally in the midst of the slow vote count.

Even as the Republican attorneys pursued a deal that would let conservativeleaning counties match signatures like the two urban ones, President Donald

Trump seemed to attack the way Maricopa and Pima operated on Twitter. “In Arizona, SIGNATURES DON’T MATCH,” Mr. Trump tweeted. “Electoral corruption — Call for a new Election?” parties Wednesday practice Four the two of filed local reaching night large the Republican challenging counties’ lawsuit out to voters the signature after Election on the Day. voter If registration doesn’t match that on the sealed envelope, both Maricopa and Pima County allow voters to help them fix, or “cure” it, up to five days after Election Day. Many other counties only allow voters to cure until polls close on Election Day. Now, all will follow the standard set by Maricopa, Pima and two other rural counties that allow for postElection Day cures.