Six of Arizona’s 15 counties face a Monday deadline to decide whether they’ll certify 2022 election results while simultaneously facing pressure from some Republicans not to officially approve the vote tallies.
Voters elected Democrats for U.S. Senate and Governor on election night, in what had been a GOP stronghold until the last few elections.
Kari Lake, Arizona’s 2022 Republican gubernatorial candidate, and Mark Finchem, the party’s candidate for Secretary of State, have refused to acknowledge their losses. They blame election officials in Maricopa County for a problem with some ballot printers.
Maricopa election officials have countered that all ballots were counted and that voters were able to go to any polling place in the county on Election Day, many of which had little or no line with wait times posted online.
Still, two Republican-controlled Arizona counties, Mohave and Cochise, have voted not to certify, deferring a final decision until Monday, the last day it’s allowed under state law.
Last week, State Elections Director Kori Lorick wrote in a letter that the state would sue to force Cochise County supervisors to certify. If they don’t, Lorick said the state would exclude the county’s numbers from the statewide canvass scheduled for Dec. 5. Omitting the votes from Cochise county would flip the victor in at least two close races—a U.S. House seat and state schools chief—from Republican to Democrat.
