Arizona Cochise County Hand Count Special Action Complaint

Special action complaint filed by two members of the Cochise County Board of Supervisors against the Cochise County elections director, Lisa Marra, requesting a writ of mandamus (a court order compelling a party to take a certain action) to compel the “Defendant to administer the counting of votes for the 2022 general election as lawfully commanded.” This petition comes after the Cochise Board of Supervisors voted on Oct. 24 to conduct a hand count audit of ballots cast for the 2022 election. Then, on Nov. 7, the court ruled that a full hand count audit of all early ballots was not permitted by Arizona law. Now, Cochise County argues that the court’s Nov. 7 order “does not enjoin the County Recorder or Elections Director from conducting an expanded hand count of fewer than 100% of election day ballots.” The petition states that “[p]ursuant to the terms of the Order and Arizona law, the County Recorder randomly selected sixteen out of seventeen vote centers to conduct an expanded hand count of election day ballots only,” but claims that the defendants’ did not allow the county recorder to access the ballots. The petitioners allege that the Cochise County elections director has “has refused to comply” with the county board’s plan to “to conduct an expanded hand count” and requests a writ of mandamus to “compel such compliance” in order to allow the county to conduct an “expanded hand count audit of election day ballots in sixteen out of seventeen of the County’s vote centers.”

On Nov. 16, the Cochise County Board of Supervisors withdrew its petition.

Last updated: November 14, 2022 8:23 pm EST