PHOENIX (AP) — Republican officials in a rural Arizona Monday: No county certify the 2022 election A prominent Republican pressured him to refuse to accept a vote count showing Democrats winning the U.S. Senate, Governor and other statewide races before the deadline.
Cochise will be sued by state election officials County if the board of supervisors misses Monday’s deadline to approve the official tally of votes, known as the canvass. The canvass vote was delayed by the Republican county supervisors until the board of supervisors heard again about concerns about the certification ballot tabulators. But election officials have repeatedly maintained that the equipment has been properly approved.
Marc Elias, Democratic election lawyer, promised on Twitter that he would sue the county. Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs’s office has previously said it would sue if the county misses the deadline.
“The Board of Supervisors had all of the information they needed to certify this election and failed to uphold their responsibility for Cochise voters,” Sophia Solis, a Hobbs spokeswoman, stated in an email.
Mohave, Republican supervisors County A certification vote was postponed to Thursday. After hearing complaints from residents about the problems with Maricopa’s ballot printers, the committee postponed the certification vote to Thursday. County. Maricopa Officials County, the state’s largest, containing Phoenix, said everyone had a chance to vote and all legal ballots were counted.
Election The results are largely good. certified without issue In jurisdictions all over the country. That’s not been the case in ArizonaThe building was used as a hub for former President Donald Trump’s efforts to reverse the 2020 election and spread false narratives of fraud.
Arizona was long a GOP stronghold, but this month Democrats won most of the highest profile races over Republicans who aggressively promoted Trump’s 2020 election lies. Hobbs’ Republican candidate for governor, Kari lake, and Mark Finchem’s candidate for secretary-of-state, declined to acknowledge their losses. They blame Republican election officials from Maricopa County For a problem with certain ballot printers.
Navajo, a rural Republican county, and Coconino (which is staunchly Democratic), voted to certify Monday. Yavapai is conservative CountyMaricopa residents have cited issues County In asking the Board of Supervisors not approval the election results. The meeting was already underway.
Mohave Republican Supervisors County Last week, they said that they would sign off Monday. But, they wanted to. register a protest against voting issues in Maricopa County. In Cochise CountyGOP supervisors demanded that the secretary state verify that vote-counting devices were legally certified before they approved the election results.
Kori Lorick, Director of State Elections, stated that machines were properly certified for use in elections. In a letter she wrote last week, she stated that the state would sue Cochise. County supervisors to certify, and if they don’t do so by the deadline for the statewide canvass on Dec. 5, the county’s votes would be excluded. That move threatens to flip the victor in at least two close races — a U.S. House seat and state schools chief — from a Republican to a Democrat.
Lake pointed out problems Election Day in Maricopa CountySome ballot centers printed ballots with too dark markings to be read by the on-site tabulators. The confusion caused lines to clog and Lake claims that some of her supporters were dissuaded from voting.
Last week, she filed an open records lawsuit against the county, requesting that documents be produced by the county to shed light on the matter before she votes to certify Monday’s election. Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich demanded explanations before the vote.
Sunday’s response from the county was that nobody was stopped from voting and that 85 percent of all vote centers did not have lines lasting more than 45 minutes. Officials from the county stated that most long-standing lines were shortened by others in nearby locations.
Kelli Ward, the party chair, was accused of creating confusion by telling Twitter supporters not to put their ballots into a secure box that would be tabulated later by more robust machines at county election headquarters.
According to the county, just 17,000 people were living in the area. Election These boxes were secured and day ballots were entered. All were counted. Only 16% of 1.56 million votes were cast in Maricopa. County On-site appointments were made Election Day. These votes were overwhelmingly in favor of Republicans.
The Republican National Committee (and the GOP candidate) Arizona Abraham Hamadeh filed an election challenge in his race. The automatic recount is scheduled with Hamadeh trailing Hamadeh at 510 votes.
Ward urged supporters to press their county supervisors for certification votes to be delayed until after a Hamadeh afternoon hearing.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2022 midterm elections at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections
