An Arizona judge has thrown out an election lawsuit brought by state attorney general candidate Abraham Hamadeh and the Republican National Committee (RNC) that sought to challenge the state’s election results.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Randall Warner rejected the lawsuit on Wednesday, arguing the lawsuit was filed prematurely, ruling that the parties can not file a lawsuit until the results are certified, according to The Washington Examiner.
“Under these statutes there can be no election contest until after the canvass and declaration of results because, until then, no one is ‘declared elected,’” Warner wrote in his ruling. “It is undisputed that the canvass and declaration of results for the November 2022 election have not occurred.”
Hamadeh does not need to wait until the recount is complete before filing his lawsuit, Warner noted in his ruling. However, he must wait until the statewide certification is official before he can mount a challenge to the election results. Hamadeh has indicated he will refile the lawsuit after the statewide certification is complete.
The Arizona attorney general race is set to go under a recount once the state canvass is complete but one rural county is threatening to derail the process.
Two Republican supervisors in Cochise County, Arizona, voted to delay the county’s election results until Friday. The state is required to certify its election results by Dec. 8th.
The move has triggered legal fights from state officials as they scramble to certify election results statewide, which requires certified results from all 15 counties.
As American Liberty News previously reported:
The drama threatens the results in the Tucson-based 6th Congressional District, where Republican Juan Ciscomani narrowly beat Democratic nominee Kirsten Engel on Nov. 8. Ciscomani won the competitive district by about 5,000 votes.
Despite his hard-fought victory, the Cochise County Board of Supervisors has refused to certify the county’s midterm election results. If they still have not done so by Dec. 8, all of Ciscomani’s votes in the bright red county could be “excluded,” handing the seat to Engel.
And that’s not all.
Without Cochise County’s vote totals, Republican Tom Horne could wind up losing to incumbent Democrat Kathy Hoffman in the state superintendent’s race.
Meanwhile, Republican Abe Hamadeh who trails Democrat Kris Mayes in the state attorney general’s race by only 510 votes would see any hope of a come-from-behind victory dashed.
