Arizona Republican Abraham Hamadeh announced today that his legal team is filing a Motion for Stay to delay the inauguration for the AZ Office of Attorney General next week until all matters regarding potential discrepancies in the recount and litigation are resolved. He also requested that the current Arizona attorney general, Mark Brnovich “remain in office until all issues are resolved.”
My team is filing a Motion for Stay to delay the inauguration for the Office of Attorney General next week until we resolve all matters regarding the potential discrepancies in the recount and litigation.
We request @GeneralBrnovich remain in office until all issues are resolved
— Abe Hamadeh (@AbrahamHamadeh) December 29, 2022
Democrat Kris Mayes was declared the winner of Arizona’s attorney general race on Thursday, beating Hamadeh by 280 votes in the mandatory recount. The initial tally of the 2022 midterm election in November showed Mayes leading by 511 votes out of 2.5 million cast.
The results of the recount show that my opponent’s lead has been cut by nearly half from 511 to 280 votes. A shockingly high discrepancy. Again, a recount just puts the ballots in the machine again.
My legal team will be assessing our options to make sure every vote is counted.
— Abe Hamadeh (@AbrahamHamadeh) December 29, 2022
The discrepancy was reportedly found in Pinal County’s recount tally of ballots cast in the general election.
The results of the statutorily required recount of the Arizona AG race, Superintendent of Public Instruction race, and the Legislative District 13 (LD13) House race were expected to be released on December 22nd, but Secretary of State Katie Hobbs petitioned the courts to have the results go directly to her office and asked to have the release of the results postponed until December 29th.
According to Arizona law, an automatic recount is triggered if a candidate wins by a margin that is less than or equal to 0.5 percent of total votes cast.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Timothy Thomason announced the results of the recounts in a hearing on Thursday.
Political consultant Constantin Querard shared news of the discrepancy in Pinal County on Twitter, Wednesday.
“From reliable source in rural county – sizable # of votes found during recount. Net benefit to GOP candidates in the 100s possibly? Yikes! Maybe why recount results are being slow-walked by Hobbs? I’m not one for conspiracy stuff, but no process is perfect, so keep an eye on it!” tweeted Querard.
From reliable source in rural county – sizable # of votes found during recount. Net benefit to GOP candidates in the 100s possibly? Yikes! Maybe why recount results are being slow-walked by Hobbs? I’m not one for conspiracy stuff, but no process is perfect, so keep an eye on it!
— Constantin Querard (@CQuerard) December 28, 2022
Both Hamadeh and Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake challenged their election results in court, but they were unable to convince the judge that they lost their elections due to the mismanagement in Maricopa County, so their cases were thrown out. However, the Arizona Independent News Network reports that legal experts are saying the new revelations about the Pinal County’s “system failure,” changes “the legal landscape for Hamadeh.”
“It is believed that the issue with Pinal’s tally was known before Hamadeh and gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake filed their separate election challenges,“ the Arizona Independent News Network reported.
Due to a court order, all Pinal County elected officials refused to discuss the matter.
In August, officials were forced to fire Pinal County Elections Director David Frisk in the wake of the County’s disastrous disenfranchisement of untold number of voters in the Primary Election. Pinal County Recorder Virginia Ross then resigned her elected office in order to fill the vacancy left by Frisk.
At the time, voters in Pinal County said they felt like they were watching the chairs being moved around the deck of the Titanic.
Prior to the Primary Election Day, Pinal County became the focus of lawsuits after the Elections Department sent about 63,000 voters in seven municipalities an incorrect early ballot in the mail.
Relying on a formula provided by Hobbs’ office, the Elections Department failed to have enough ballots on hand at multiple locations for voters. As a result, voters were turned away and ultimately disenfranchised.
Hamadeh is now demanding a “complete inspection” of all the ballots due to the discrepancy in Pinal County.
Every day that goes by my opponent’s lead has been shrinking. This recount has an unusually high discrepancy rate and swing. This is all without a complete inspection of the ballots.
My opponent gained 196 votes, I gained 427.
The outcome of this election is uncertain.
— Abe Hamadeh (@AbrahamHamadeh) December 29, 2022
We MUST get to the bottom of this election. Transparent elections are fundamental to a democracy.
A discrepancy this big in the recount calls for an inspection of ALL the ballots.
— Abe Hamadeh (@AbrahamHamadeh) December 29, 2022
Hamadeh went on to accuse Hobbs and the AZ Secretary of State Office under her control of abusing the courts and making “a mockery of the justice system.”
“They knew the results of the recount was going to show a LARGE discrepancy due to tabulation errors and fought against our election contest knowing this. They deceived the courts,” he tweeted.
Katie Hobbs and SOS Office abused our courts and made a mockery of the justice system.
They knew the results of the recount was going to show a LARGE discrepancy due to tabulation errors and fought against our election contest knowing this.
They deceived the courts.
— Abe Hamadeh (@AbrahamHamadeh) December 29, 2022