Maricopa County continues to drop nightly ballot dumps, with Friday’s results adding another 74,000 votes to the total, allegedly including ballots dropped off on Election Day. Despite predictions that tonight’s dump would swing in Republicans’ favor, Democrats cling to a lead across the significant races.
“They want you to be demoralized. There’s no reason to be. Our path to victory lies in the overwhelmingly red votes that Maricopa County either hasn’t counted or has deliberately chosen not to release. Hold the line,” said the campaign of Republican Gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake.
They want you to be demoralized. There's no reason to be.
Our path to victory lies in the overwhelmingly red votes that Maricopa County either hasn't counted or has deliberately chosen not to release.
Hold the line. https://t.co/sXWP6JmoiL
— Kari Lake War Room (@KariLakeWarRoom) November 12, 2022
However, following the new results, Senate incumbent Mark Kelly (D) and Secretary of State nominee Adrian Fontes are now projected to win over their Republican opponents Blake Masters and Mark Finchem. Both Democrats have maintained a 100,000 vote lead over their opponent since Thursday. AP News called the Arizona Senate race, although the fate of the U.S. Senate majority remains uncertain, with two more races not yet called.
Two other major races remain uncalled in Arizona, governor and attorney general. Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) maintains her lead over Republican Kari Lake by roughly 30,000 votes. Meanwhile, Republican Abe Hamadeh is close to his opponent, Kris Mayes, who leads by less than 20,000.
Data guru Garret Archer said that hope is not lost for these Republicans and that there may still be red-friendly votes yet to be counted. He also shared that roughly 400,000 outstanding ballots remain across the entire state. The majority come from Maricopa and Pima counties.
AZ outstanding ballot estimate w/ provisionals as of 830pm 11/11
State: 394,521
Apache 9,280
Cochise 8,262
Coconino 8,208
Gila 55
Graham 118
Maricopa 274,885
Mohave 1,200
Pima 71,406
Pinal 17,969
Yavapai 1,983
Yuma 1,155— The AZ – abc15 – Data Guru (@Garrett_Archer) November 12, 2022
In a press conference today, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates confirmed that tonight’s ballot dump finished off the early ballots submitted before Tuesday, the roughly 17,000 “box 3” ballots from Election Day, and the rest came from Election Day drop-offs.
He also stated that the hand count audit would begin Saturday to check if the tabulation machines are correctly counting the votes. Moreover, he said the final tabulation numbers should be available by early next week, and that staff will work through the weekend to get those numbers out.
The amount of time it takes for Maricopa County to count the votes has brought national attention to the state, with the Republican National Committee (RNC) saying Arizona deserves better.
“This election has exposed deep flaws in Maricopa County’s election administration. Arizona deserves better – transparency, certainty, efficiency – and most importantly, an accurate and prompt announcement of election results that can be accepted by all voters,” said attorney Harmeet Dhillon on behalf of the RNC.
Dhillon said that the RNC and Republican Party of Arizona (AZGOP) demand around-the-clock shifts with complete transparency and regular public updates be initiated by Maricopa County until counting is done. She threatened legal action to make sure counting happens.
“Arizona deserves better — transparency, certainty, efficiency — and most importantly, an accurate and prompt announcement of election results that can be accepted by all voters.”— @pnjaban pic.twitter.com/XUbSM073RP
— GOP (@GOP) November 12, 2022
In a response to this demand emailed to reporters, Gates said the county is following the laws established by the Arizona Legislation and that transparency is available through tabulation live streams and press conferences. He said it had taken an average of 12.5 days to post final results in elections since 2006 and that the RNC’s statement was a political stunt.
Keep track of election updates here.
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Neil Jones is a reporter for The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Neil on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Kari Lake” by The Kari Lake. Photo “Katie Hobbs” by Katie Hobbs. Background Photo “Arizona State Capitol” by Wars. CC BY-SA 3.0.
tHEY can project whatever they want. They can even try to make it stick to a wall……THE PEOPLE OF AZ DECIDE….NOT THE MEDIA…..AND THE PEOPLE OF AZ DECIDE WHEN THEY WANT TO DECIDE…..THEY VOTED, AND THE PEOPLE THEY VOTED FOR ARE THEIR FUTURE REPRESENTATIVES. NOT THE MEDIA. SCREW THE MEDIA….THEY ARE ALWAYS WRONG…..COUNT ALL THE VOTES THAT WERE CAST, AND THE ONES THAT WERE NOT, AND WERE NOT CAST DUE TO THE FAULT OF THE VOTER, THEN CALL THEM BACK, AND MAKE SURE THEIR VOTES WERE CAST. I REST MY CASE, PERIOD…OVER