Corrections and Clarifications: An earlier version of this article incorrectly attributed statements made by Lali Madduri.
Cochise County officials argued all day in court on Friday As to whether two Republican overseers can order a hand count of about 40,000 votes, and whether such an impromptu count is logistically feasible.
Judges won’t make a decision until Monday, the day before the election.
The Office of the Secretary of State said an unusual delay in Cochise County could affect 14 other Arizona counties and the state’s ability to prove elections as scheduled by law. raised. Lawyers opposing Handcount echoed that concern.
“If the canvas is not complete, there cannot be a recount (mandated by law in a close race) and the winner cannot even take a seat,” said lawyer Lali Maduri.
Opponents raised several legal concerns, including illegally forwarding ballots to county registries for counting by machine and then transporting the ballots to an undetermined location for counting.
Supporters of the count said the effort had been blown out of proportion and was a simple extension of the small hand count required by law, painless and not slowing the state’s election canvas.
The effort will ease some voters’ concerns that the election is fragile, they said, but opponents say the bullshit numbers proposed days before election day are not only illegal, He argued that it could fuel more unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about election security.
Lawyers backing Handcount said those with concerns could join Handcount if they wanted to ease their fears.
Brian Brem, an attorney representing Hands Count supporters, said the effort would help address distrust in the election.
He said the small county “is being thwarted by opponents who come here and say, ‘No, you can’t have a full audit of your election.’
“Why? According to Arizona law, why can’t the people of Cochise audit every ballot?” Mr.
“If they were allowed to do that, wouldn’t it be a long way to dispel your honor, your conspiracies? To ease the minds of the people?”
winding road to court
After the October storm, both parties ended up in Cochise County Superior Court in Bisbee. There, county supervisors proposed, withdrew, and then approved a full recount amid threats of legal action and possibly even loss of state funding.
After the supervisors finally decided to conduct a full hand count, the Arizona Retirees Alliance and county voters called on the courts to stop the full hand count, calling it “illegal, chaotic, time consuming and unreliable.” It’s unnecessary,’ he said.
“Manual counting of all early ballots is not permitted under Arizona law, which provides the only procedure by which election officials must audit election results.” said the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that the county can only enforce a hand count of 5,000 early ballots and can increase that number only if the initial recount conflicts.
However, the county registrar disputed this, in favor of full counts, saying the state’s manual for election procedures allows counties to audit more ballots at their discretion.
Opponents of the full count said parts of the manual conflicted with state laws that supersede the document.
county reserve hand count
From lining up volunteers to securing tables, chairs and venues, preparations are already underway, county recorder David Stevens said the process was easy and shouldn’t delay the official election canvas. rice field.
Stevens testified that he believed the supervisor had the authority to conduct the audit and was considering four Sierra Vista sites for actual work.
He said he expects about 30,000 early votes and about 10,000 votes cast at polling stations on Nov. 8 to be counted.
“This will start the day after the election,” he said of hand-counting preparations, but the actual counting won’t start until volunteers are trained, which could be a few days later. According to the decree, 10 working days. So you have plenty of time to do this. “
The plan, Stevens said, is to count four races on the ballot: one statewide, one in Congress, one federally, and one on the ballot measure.
He said he expects to have 60 tally tables and that volunteers can tally 100 votes an hour at each table. He plans to use his team of three, with one of him at the table reading out the results and the other two of him writing the tally. If it matches the end of each of the 25 batches, it moves on, otherwise it recounts the batch.
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“It seems very doable,” Stevens said.
The effort is reminiscent of the Maricopa County election review that has been going on for months, but the number of votes in this situation is probably 2, not the track needed for last year’s 2.1 million ballots in Phoenix. It will fill the load capacity of a truck.
Stevens said he had contacted groups such as the Knights of Columbus and his own church to provide tables and chairs and expected no problems there.
A hand count could probably be completed in a day, he said, but the count involved transporting the ballots from the vault in his office to the tallying location, then storing them in vaults at night until the count was complete. He said it should be returned to
Plaintiffs’ attorneys asked whether Stevens had documented the prosecution proceedings. He said he was developing them and would provide copies to plaintiffs.
He confirmed that a majority of the 300 volunteers so far are Republicans and has not initiated the process to ensure all volunteers required for legal tallying are registered voters. He said there are 55 volunteers who are Democrats and another 40-50 who are Liberals.
He also confirmed that these people will begin training the day after the election.
Lawyers question plan’s legitimacy
Plaintiffs’ attorneys questioned Stevens and suggested that some of the handcounting procedures would not comply with state law.
Regarding the start of the tally, she suggested that the tally does not start the day after the election, and therefore does not comply with the law on recounting early votes. We said we would comply because it means the process is ongoing.
Stevens said he did not intend to violate any procedures of election manuals or state or federal law.
Brem suggested that there is little difference between what is written in the Election Procedures Manual and what the county plans to do.
“The only difference is the number of ballots that are counted, is that correct?” he asked Stevens, who answered yes.
Attorney Alexander Korodin, who acted on behalf of the Recorder He, who was also involved in last year’s Maricopa County election review, posed a question to Stevens and aimed to downplay concerns that the count was unusual.
Corodin asked Stevens what was the purpose of taking a random sample when recounting some of the ballots. Stevens said it was to avoid bias when votes were recounted.
“If 100% of the votes were counted, is there potential for bias?” Corodin said.
Stevens replied, “If you’re selecting all of them, there’s no bias.”
Hot Questions for the Electoral Commission
Brem proactively questioned Cochise County elections official Lisa Mara, who opposes hand tallies. He asked if the two supervisors who support the count were “mad” that they told the county recorder to do it instead of Marla.
“I’m not upset. I’m afraid there might be legal issues,” Marla replied.
One concern Marra shared was the inability to perform the legally required recounts required in close matches when ballots were forwarded to the recorder for additional hand counting.
Brem asked if allowing a recount would alleviate public concerns about the election.
“I don’t think it will be mitigated,” Marla said.
Kolodin asked Marra if the supervisor would do a hand count if she backtracked and delegated to her office instead of the registrar.
“I don’t think it’s legal,” she replied.
While questioning two witnesses, Brem asked how many people process ballots that are mailed to voters through the U.S. Postal Service. He seems to be trying to draw an equivalence between processing the ballots before they are marked and allowing additional people to process the ballots for handcount after they are marked. It looked like
“So the county will give your ballot to the US Post Office. Is that correct?” he said.
Supervisors argued for weeks
Handcount raised legal issues The idea was first pitched in early October.
Just before early voting began in the state, Republican supervisor Peggy Judd proposed.
She calls the county’s elections “already a perfect system,” but many voters are skeptical of the electoral process, especially machine counting. , characterizes such moves as “more like an audit of what the electoral machine is than determining the outcome of an election.”
Later that month, at a four-hour meeting, supervisors voted in favor of prosecution despite warnings from lawyers and others that it would lead to litigation and the potential loss of state funding. threw
Republican directors Tom Crosby and Judd voted in favor of the bill. Democrat and supervisor Anne English voted against. State election service director Cori Rorick said the commission would face a lawsuit from the office of the secretary of state if it moved forward. warned.
The next day, the Secretary of State’s Office said there was “serious concern” about the Board’s intentions “particularly given the lack of detail” and “the fact that an election is just two weeks away.” Stated.
Supervisors responded on October 26 that they only intended to hand-count all ballots cast in the November 8 ballot.
But two days later, supervisors said all counting had resumed, including all early voting and mail-in ballots.
The regulator said it had an opinion from Attorney General Mark Brnovic that he approved the plan.
It sparked a lawsuit from the Arizona Alliance of retired Americans. need to hire
Contact reporter Ryan Randazzo and Ryan.Randazzo@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4331. Follow him on Twitter @UtilityReporter.
