Cochise County, Arizona — Editor’s Note: The video above is from a previous broadcast.

A judge on Monday blocked a plan by a rural Arizona county to attempt a full hand count of votes from the current election.

Pima County Superior Court Judge Casey F. McGinley’s decision was later issued. all-day public hearing Opponents presented their case on Friday and called witnesses. High possibility of appeal against the judge’s decision. Election Day is Tuesday.

McGinley said the county board of overseers ordered county registrars to count all votes cast in the election, which ends Tuesday, instead of the small sample required by state law. He said he had trampled on his authority.

Opponents who have sued to stop the proposed handcount — a group called the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans — say state law requires early voting small handcounts to ensure the counting machines are accurate. Members of the group argued last minute changes could cause chaos and delay the certification of election results.Lisa Mara, Cochise County Elections Administrator also testified that they opposed plans to increase the number of votes, saying they could delay results and jeopardize voting security.

While the lawsuit only challenged the full handcount of the estimated 30,000 early ballots, the ruling went further by blocking the handcount of both early ballots and votes cast on Election Day. proceeded.

McGinley writes that state election laws provide detailed procedures for randomly selecting Election Day ballots to be selected for standard hand counting.

“If the court were to interpret (in that section) to initially select 100% of the constituency votes as a starting point, this entire process would be unnecessary,” the judge wrote. It is illegal for the board to require election officials to do so here because it does not allow people to begin hand counting of precincts by counting all ballots cast.”

There are various rules for the early voting process, but they specifically state that it should be stopped once the small sample matches the number of machines. Start with whichever is less.

“The Board’s directive is not permissible in plain language[of the law]because it requires an initial audit of about 30,000 early ballots,” McGinley said.

Sandra Cole, president of the Retirees Group, said the ruling was a big win for voters in the county, especially retirees who voted early.

“All voters have the right to have their votes counted in the most accurate manner possible,” Cole said in a statement, adding, “Elected officials must obey the law, and this ruling is not legal. check the dominance of

Despite opposition from the county’s elected Republican attorney and Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs’ election administrator, the two Republicans who make up the majority of the Cochise County Oversight Board voted for a full early ballot handcount. Both voted to proceed.. full hand-counting of early ballots is illegal under state election law, and either 1% or 5,000 of early ballots are required to ensure machine accuracy. or the lesser of whichever is allowed. Hobbes is running for governor.

Republican Attorney General Mark Brunovich Unofficial decision on October 28 board siding.

Republican Cochise County registrar David Stevens testified that he has been ordered by the county board of oversight to conduct the count and plans to do so at one of four locations he scouted in Sierra Vista last week. The city is the largest of the border counties with about 130,000 inhabitants. Located southeast of Tucson, the county extends to the New Mexico state line.

Stevens never supervised Handcount. That is Mara’s role. She testified on Friday that she plans to conduct a normal post-election hand count.

The county and its attorneys rely on a section of the state’s manual of election procedures written by the state secretary that allows the county to elect more early ballots for handcount audits and has the authority to cast 100% of the ballots. said to have given Trouble. McGinley said the sentence was not in the actual election law and therefore “violates[the statute]and the requirement that the first handcount audit not exceed her 5,000-vote review.” .

Stevens said he was surprised by that part of the ruling.

“The procedural manual was drawn up with the help of the Registrar and the Board of Elections, was approved by the Secretary of State, and was written with the approval of the Governor and Attorney General, but is that line illegal now? ?” Stevens asked. “The court has ruled — what should I do? I find it strange that they can pick one line and say, ‘That’s illegal.'”

Stevens, who has been named as a defendant along with the board, said no decision has yet been made on the appeal.

Two Republican superintendents of Cochise County 100% voted in favor of handcount Instead of being a small sample that counts in every other election, former President Donald Trump’s false allegations prompted him to do so by those who believe fraud or vote-counting machine problems led to his defeat in 2020. Done. The only Democrat on the board voted against. Hand count.

Nevada County Also pushing full hand count Trying to appease a Trump supporter, but is at odds with the Secretary of State over counting rules. Another Republican-led Arizona county rejected a similar effort last week.

The hand count covered four races drawn by lottery.

Mara testified that keeping a full handcount would jeopardize her certification for the county elections scheduled to take place by November 22nd. This significantly increased the threshold for mandatory recounts, which could delay statewide certifications where recounts are expected to be triggered. by Congress earlier this year. In the worst-case scenario, the seating of newly elected officials in January could be delayed.

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