Republicans won two House seats in Arizona in the 2022 midterm elections. However, one of them could be tossed out if a heavily Republican county doesn't certify its vote total by the time of Arizona's statewide election certification.
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.
Despite rising concerns, Cochise County officials say not to worry. They will certify their results in time but observers say they're playing with fire.
Arizona state law is explicit when it comes to election certification. Per ARS 16-642, county supervisors have 20 days to certify election results. Two high-profile former Maricopa County prosecutors have already called for Cochise County Supervisors Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby to be criminally charged for their refusal to do so. Their defiance stems from their protest of Maricopa County's Election Day process.
As azcentral.com reports:
Former Attorney General Terry Goddard, a Democrat, and former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley, a Republican, on Tuesday called for the pair to be criminally charged for refusing to follow state law and certify their county's election.
“We believe deeply that the rule of law dictates that public officials be held accountable when they refuse to comply with their legal obligations – all the more so when those officials' actions threaten to undo the proper administration and integrity of elections, disenfranchise thousands of voters, and potentially even alter the results of some races,” they wrote.
Election Day printer malfunctions at one-quarter of Maricopa County's polling places fueled conspiracies stoked by Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who claims the temporary breakdowns disenfranchised Republican voters. The conspiracy theories have gained traction on social media but haven't been substantiated in any way.
Lake lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs by 0.7% — or just over 17,000 votes. While she plans to sue Maricopa County in a last-ditch attempt to overturn her defeat, she can't file her lawsuit until state officials certify their election results.
If Cochise County officials don't, they could inadvertently disenfranchise millions of Republican voters across Arizona.
The Daily Caller concludes:
While Republican senatorial candidate Blake Masters has conceded to Kelly, Lake has not conceded to Hobbs and is currently suing the Board of Supervisors of Maricopa County for records, seeking to contest the election. Lake's challenge to the results has been supported by former President Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, Maricopa's Republican-controlled Board of Supervisors voted to certify its election results Monday.
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Why is questioning the anomolies in an election considered a “conspiracy theory”??? If someone is cheating or manipulating the process (no ink in the printers?? Give me a break) should we not be investigating and putting the people in charge of this chaos under the bright lights as to WHY that happened???
Only RINOs or “moles” can block votes
Pray tell, exactly WHY would not certifying the Cochise County votes by a certain deadline disallow only Republican votes, and not disallow Democrat votes ??? What kind of a CRAZY law is involved there ???
So in the midst of all the other lapses in absolute adherence to the law and common sense, like the candidate for governor certifying her own election, they are going to stop everything and follow the law to the letter in these two particular cases. And exactly why would the victory go automatically to the opponent if results are not certified by a certain deadline? Something just doesn’t seem to add up here.