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Has been updated: October 21, 2022 at 12:12 PM
In this May 6, 2021 file photo, Maricopa County ballots cast in the 2020 general election are seen at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix by contractors working for Florida-based company Cyber Ninjas. investigated and detailed. (AP Photo/Matt York, pool, files)
PHOENIX – The Arizona secretary of state has warned Cochise County officials not to go ahead with a “misguided” plan to audit the next general election.
“Despite both the Cochise County Attorney’s Office and the Legislative Council finding it illegal, the Cochise County Oversight Board understands that it will vote next week on whether to implement a handcount of all ballots cast. I am,” state elections director Cori Rorick said in a letter to the board Wednesday under Secretary of State Katie Hobbs.
“The Secretary of State agrees with the county attorney and the Legislative Council and urges the Board to abandon this misguided effort.”
The Cochise County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote Monday on whether to approve the November 8 election handcount.inside October 11th work session When the proposal was discussed, the county attorney’s office advised against it.
Despite warnings, two of the three supervisors in Southeast Arizona County are Republicans. Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby, submitted an agenda item for the hand count to be considered Monday. Both said the audit would be completed before the election certification deadline, citing the loss of public confidence in the election.
The third supervisor, Ann English, is a Democrat.
During the Oct. 11 session, Cochise County Chief Deputy Attorney Christine Roberts said, “There is nothing in the Election Procedures Manual that allows for a different process, nor does[the law]require the Board to “Nothing gives us the authority to do this,” he said.
it’s a reference to Supreme Court precedent The court ruled that near-election changes are prohibited.
Under state law, a small percentage of selected race votes go through a mandatory hand count with a bipartisan team to check the accuracy of the tallying machine after all votes have been tallied. . Cochise County’s proposal is to have a full recount to audit the machine count, and Lorick’s letter states that “the board has no authority to do this.”
Hobbes sent a letter on social media on Friday morning. He points out that hand counting is “time-consuming and prone to human error.”
“Any election administrator in Arizona can prove that it is impossible to complete an accurate hand count in an election with dozens of races on a ballot in time for applicable statutory deadlines. ‘ said the letter.
according to the presentation During work sessions this month, Cochise County voters cast nearly 61,000 ballots in the 2020 general election.
“Major changes to procedures just weeks before Election Day could create significant risk of administrative error, causing voter confusion and mistrust of our elections,” the letter said. said.
The letter further states that if Cochise County proceeds with the handcount, the state could take legal action, including a “mandatory fee transfer.”
“We are all custodians of taxpayer money, and taxpayers should not bear the burden of any illegal activity contemplated by the Board,” the letter said.
There is no evidence, either in Arizona or elsewhere in the country, that fraud, vote-counting equipment issues, or other voting issues have impacted the results of the 2020 election. But many Republican voters who support former President Donald Trump are convinced of its existence, from him and others.
Maricopa County’s 2020 presidential election poll results, ordered by Republican leaders in the state Senate, endorsed the victory of President Joe Biden.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
