On Monday, election officials in two counties in the swing states of Arizona and Pennsylvania declined to certify the results of the midterm elections in their respective counties, potentially bringing overall certification to a halt for both states.
ABC News reports that Republican election officials in Cochise County, Arizona and Luzerne County, Pennsylvania voted to reject their official certification measures. Cochise voted straight Republican on November 8th, supporting gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake and U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters, while Luzerne County voted for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro and Republican Senate nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz.
The vote in Cochise County delays the certification of over 47,000 votes, which is far greater than the margin by which Lake allegedly lost to Democratic nominee and incumbent Secretary of State Katie Hobbs. The decision was made after Supervisor Tom Crosby motioned to table the certification resolution until Friday, with Supervisor Peggy Judd seconding his motion.
“This meeting agenda should have provided for interaction between subject matter experts on voter machines and representatives of the secretary of state’s office,” said Crosby, referring to numerous technical issues that suspiciously arise on Election Day throughout Arizona, which led to hours of delay and the possible disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of voters.
In Luzerne County, two Republican officials voted against certification, with two Democrats voting in favor and a third Democrat abstaining. Luzerne had its own problems on Election Day, with multiple polling places running out of paper ballots; the difficulties led to the resignation of the Luzerne County manager the following day.
“There have been enough irregularities and enough discrepancies and enough disenfranchisement of disenfranchised voters in this county that I don’t understand how we could possibly proceed without seriously considering a re-vote,” said James Magna, Vice Chair of the Board of Elections.
The votes have raised further awareness to the issue of voter fraud and potentially illegal election practices in the United States, a trend that first started in 2020 and continued into the midterms. Democrats, however, have dismissed such claims despite overwhelming evidence, and far-left lawyers such as Marc Elias have already threatened legal action against the two counties, and any other jurisdictions that question the results of the election.