Arizona Officially Certifies Midterm Election Results - Kari Lake's 5-Day Window Just Opened
Arizona’s top officials certified the midterm election results Monday, formalizing victory for Democrat Katie Hobbs.
The certification opens a five-day window for formal election challenges. Republican candidate Kari Lake is expected to file a lawsuit regarding the results.
Election results have largely been certified without issue around the country, but Arizona was an exception. Several counties delayed their certification. Cochise County in southeastern Arizona went past the deadline last week until a judge intervened on Friday and ordered the county supervisors to certify the election by the end of the day.
“Arizona had a successful election,” Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, said before signing the certification. “But too often throughout the process, powerful voices proliferated misinformation that threatened to disenfranchise voters.”
The statewide certification, known as a canvass, was signed by Hobbs, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich and Chief Justice Robert Brutinel, a Ducey appointee.
Republicans have expressed concern about Hobbs’ role in certifying her own victory over Lake in the race for governor. Lake and her allies have focused on problems with ballot printers that produced about 17,000 ballots that could not be tabulated on site and had to be counted at the elections department headquarters.
Lines backed up in some polling places, causing suspicions that some supporters were unable to cast a ballot. County officials say everyone was able to vote and all legal ballots were counted.
The race for attorney general was one of the closest contests in state history, with Democrat Kris Mayes leading Republican Abe Hamadeh by just 510 votes out of 2.5 million cast.
The races for superintendent of public instruction and a state legislative seat in the Phoenix suburbs will also be recounted, but the margins are much larger.
In addition to Hobbs and Mayes, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly was re-elected and Democrat Adrian Fontes won the race for attorney general.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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