Six counties in Arizona must decide Monday if they will certify the 2022 election results. Across the country, election results have been certified though in Arizona this has not been the case. Coming weeks after midterm election day, the state has yet to officially approve quite a few races. This leaves many Republicans worried corruption will flip results in favor of the Democrats.
While Arizona has long been a GOP stronghold, following the 2020 election and the concerns of corruption following a large Democratic win in the state, many wonder if this election cycle’s ridiculousness is just a continuation. As of now, two Republican-controlled Arizona counties have voted to defer final decisions of votes until Monday, which is the last day they are allowed deferment under Arizona state law. In Mohave County Republican supervisors have said that they will sign off on the results Monday however they wanted to register a protest against voting issues in Maricopa County. While in Cochise County, GOP supervisors have demanded that the vote-counting machines be legally certified by the secretary of state before they approve results.
The GOP gubernatorial candidate, Kari Lake, also filed a public records lawsuit last week against Maricopa County after many voters faced issues at voting precincts across the county on election day. Lake claims that the issues with the machines in Maricopa County could have dissuaded voters from voting. While many candidates and officials alike have complained or filed complaints against Maricopa County, state officials have claimed all ballots were counted and no one lost the ability to vote. The officials have stated that around 17,000 Election Day ballots were involved in the County’s issues with only 16% of the 1.56 million votes cast in Maricopa County being made in person on Election Day, those votes going largely to Republicans.
As it sits currently, results may be paused until Monday afternoon following the scheduled hearing for a recount trial in the Arizona attorney general race which was filed by one candidate, Abraham Hamadeh. We will wait and see what happens, though Kelli Ward, a state GOP chair, has urged many Arizona voters to push their counties to delay certification votes until news on Hamadeh’s trail is released following the hearing as this hearing could result in a recount of votes for attorney general.
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