All of the challenges to Arizona’s ’22 election so far
Arizona is scheduled to canvass its 2022 election results Dec. 5, but a host of challenges are standing in the way.
Some losing GOP candidates have refused to concede their races and hope to find reprieve in the courts or through the legal certification procedures.
Kari Lake, Mark Finchem and Abe Hamadeh, who lost races for governor, secretary of state and attorney general, respectively, are questioning the election results and stoking supporters to protest in various ways.
Some of the actions appear to feed off one another. For example, a GOP official on Wednesday refused to sign off on an examination of voting equipment moments after Hamadeh filed a lawsuit challenging election results.
Finchem has been promoting the idea that the state will have to conduct a new election because some counties have not yet certified their elections, although they have until Nov. 28 to do so.
Cochise County refuses to certify
Two of the three county commissioners voted Friday to wait until they had “proof” the county voting equipment and the testing lab that certified it both were properly accredited.
They rescheduled a vote for Nov. 28, the last day counties have by law to certify their election.
The Secretary of State’s Office has pledged to seek a court order directing the county to certify if the supervisors don’t do it themselves Monday, and, failing a court order, will move on with the statewide certification without the heavily Republican county’s nearly 50,000 votes.
Wednesday, one of the two supervisors holding up the certification confirmed to The Arizona Republic that she intended to certify the results as required by law on Nov. 28.
Mohave County delays certifying
Three county supervisors in Mohave County this week decided to also delay their certification until Nov. 28 in what they called a show of solidarity with Cochise officials.
The Mohave GOP supervisors who voted to delay didn’t have concerns about the certification of voting machines like those in Cochise.
The Mohave supervisors were frustrated with Election Day problems in Maricopa County. The state’s biggest county had problems that included printers that generated ballots that couldn’t be read by scanners, long lines at polling sites, and confusing directions from officials on how voters should proceed if they encountered issues. The Mohave officials said they intend to certify their election Nov. 28 to avoid placing the county in any legal jeopardy, and that the delay was nothing more than a “political statement.”
Losing GOP AG candidate sues
Tuesday, Abraham Hamadeh, who lost the election for attorney general to Kris Mayes by such as narrow margin the contest will head to a recount, filed suit over the election. He’s asking the court to either not certify the election or certify it for him.
A Twitter account affiliated with the candidate is urging supporters to call upon Maricopa County officials to hold off on certifying the election results until the litigation plays out. Counties must certify results by Nov. 28 by statute, which is when the county is scheduled to canvass its results and send them to the Secretary of State.
The complaint was filed Tuesday in Maricopa County Superior Court by Hamadeh, who was joined by the Republican National Committee.
Hamadeh trails Mayes by 510 votes with all of Arizona’s ballots counted. The recount will occur after the certification of election results Dec. 5.
AG’s office demands answers
Over the weekend, the Attorney General’s Office Election Integrity Unit requested a formal response from Maricopa County addressing election concerns from the problems that occurred on Election Day.
The request was conveyed in a letter dated Nov. 19 to Thomas Liddy, civil division chief at the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, and signed by assistant attorney general Jennifer Wright. The responses are requested on or before Nov. 28.
Lake campaign demands answers
Tensions between GOP officials were highlighted by a video Kari Lake’s campaign released of a heated conversation between her staff and Liddy, head of the Maricopa County’s civil litigation office.
Lake’s campaign was trying to get information from the county.
The Washington Post reported Lake’s campaign attorney requested “wideranging communications” and other documents from Maricopa County on election issues.
State GOP demands answers
On Tuesday, state GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward sent a letter to Maricopa County demanding answers to her own set of questions that deal with the election.
Ward wants answers by 5 p.m. Friday. Among her questions was how the county will conduct the recount triggered by the close races.
“While disclosing the records reflecting this data and the process for reconciling these issues cannot restore the loss of suffrage for voters who were disenfranchised by the long lines and confusion, it is absolutely necessary for immediate transparency,” Ward wrote.
Kelly Townsend demands answers
Outgoing GOP Sen. Kelly Townsend sent Maricopa County officials a subpoena demanding they answer questions about election problems by 9:30 a.m. Nov. 28. The county received the inquiry Wednesday.
Townsend chairs the Government Committee.
It does not appear the subpoena is enforceable without a majority vote of the Senate.
Townsend said the information is needed to help craft legislation in the upcoming session, which starts in January. She said the rush order on the information was needed to help calm concerns about the election problems.
Maricopa County GOP chair won’t OK equipment test
A month after approving the results of pre-election tabulator tests, Maricopa County GOP Chair Mickie Niland refused to sign off on a post-election test of the equipment.
She said she no longer believes the examinations go far enough to ensure public trust in the machines and election officials’ preparedness.
“My primary reason for not signing this test is I feel the test is largely obligatory, and is not a comprehensive test of their preparedness,” she said in a statement.
Niland refusing to sign off on the tests won’t halt the election certification process.
Lawmaker: Redo or no vote
Newly elected Republican lawmaker Liz Harris wants a new election “immediately” and has promised not to vote on any new laws when the Legislature convenes in January if she doesn’t get it.
Considering Republicans only have a single-person majority in both the House and Senate, her threat is milquetoast. Any legislation that would only pass by a single GOP vote would likely see a veto from the newly elected Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs.
Lake sues Maricopa County
Kari Lake filed a lawsuit against Maricopa County officials accusing them of breaking election laws and demanding they provide information about voters whose ballots were impacted by Election Day printer issues.
Seventy of the county’s 223 voting centers experienced problems with onsite printers producing ballots too light to be read by vote-counting machines on Election Day, causing frustration and long lines for voters. Lake’s filing alleges that as many as 118 voting locations may have experienced problems.
Lake’s suit asks for numerous public records, including names and contact information for voters at polling sites that experienced printer malfunctions, the number of ballots spoiled on Election Day, adjudication rates by legislative district and the number of ballots sent to overseas voters and their verification processes.
Sit-in planned at Capitol on Friday
People dissatisfied with the election results planned a protest at 9 a.m. Friday at the Capitol and were using the hashtag “#AZRevote” to promote the demonstration.
Harris is organizing the event and calling for an audit, not a recount, of ballots cast in the election.