Republicans File Contest Over Arizona Attorney General Election Results
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Friday, Dec. 9, Abraham Hamadeh (the failed Republican attorney general candidate in Arizona and known election denier), two Arizona voters and the Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit against Kris Mayes (D), the newly elected Arizona attorney general, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) and 15 county recorders and boards of supervisors challenging the results of the 2022 election for Arizona attorney general. Hamadeh is contesting the results of the 2022 midterm elections, which he lost to Mayes by 511 votes (under state law, the race is already undergoing an automatic recount that will be completed by Dec. 22). Hamadeh filed a nearly identical complaint on Nov. 22, but the lawsuit was dismissed for being filed prematurely before Arizona had certified statewide election results. In the contest filed yesterday, Hamadeh requests “judicial intervention” to ensure the candidate who “received the highest number of lawful votes is declared the next Arizona Attorney General,” which Hamadeh believes to be himself.
The lawsuit begins by stating that the plaintiffs are not “alleging any fraud, manipulation or other intentional wrongdoing that would impugn the outcomes of the November 8, 2022, general election” but then proceeds to cast doubt upon the results of the Arizona midterm elections by citing “systematic” errors. The plaintiffs claim that 269 voters’ early ballots were not counted. They further claim at least 126 voters were “incorrectly informed that they had already voted and were permitted to complete and submit only a provisional ballot” and that “the Maricopa County Defendants failed to tabulate these valid provisional ballots for inclusion in the canvass.” The plaintiffs also argue that the Ballot Duplication Boards (which are tasked with transposing a voter’s selections if an electronic tabulator cannot read the ballot) did not correctly duplicate certain ballots, which the plaintiffs allege “caused an erroneous count of votes for the office of Arizona Attorney General.” The plaintiffs assert that “the counties’ Electronic Adjudication Boards have incorrectly recorded a material number of voter selections in the race for Arizona Attorney General in the November 8, 2022 general election, thereby resulting in the unlawful mistabulation of a ballot lawfully cast by a qualified elector.” Moreover, the plaintiffs allege that “illegal votes” were cast arguing “the number of tabulated early ballots associated with an uncured affidavit signature that does not match the signature in the corresponding registration record is material to, and potentially dispositive of, the outcome of the election for the office of Arizona Attorney General.”
This was the first election contest to be filed after Arizona certified its statewide results on Monday, Dec. 5. Failed GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and failed GOP candidate for secretary of state Mark Finchem followed with their own election contests on Friday night.