Mojave County Superior Court Judge Lee F. Jansen on Friday denied a challenge to the election of Republican Attorney General candidate Abe Hamade.
Hamade lost 511 votes to Democrat Chris Mays in one of Arizona’s closest statewide elections.
Jantzen delivered his verdict from the bench after concluding arguments in a trial that lasted approximately three hours. His decision came after the plaintiffs’ attorney, Tim Lasota, conceded that he did not reach 511 votes, based on the sample size of Thursday’s ballot inspection. Barr called for La Sota to be sanctioned for campaigning.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit included Hamade, the Republican National Committee, and two voters from Mojave County. Defendants included Mays, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, and various local election officials.
Ultimately, the judge agreed with defendant’s opinion that there was insufficient evidence to support the allegations.
After the decision, Hamade posted twitter: “Thousands of voters have been disenfranchised. Election day in Maricopa County was a disaster. Election officials have failed democracy. is waiting for the results of the recount.Merry Christmas!”
In a statement, Mays said:
Burr told the Arizona Republic: He also confirmed that he would file a sanction request against Hamade’s lawyers.
The ruling came a day after Jansen ordered same-day ballot inspections in Maricopa, Pima, and Navajo counties at an emergency hearing. It was not done due to disagreements between
A total of 14 ballots from the three sides (plaintiffs, defendants and court representatives) represented at the Maricopa County inspection on Thursday were flagged as possible errors. Court figures for the number of ballots inspected by the county ranged from 2,300 to 2,600.
At trial, Barr said two votes were found in Maricopa County, “out of thousands,” which should have been counted for Mays. His one vote in Navajo County counted for Mays, which means “unnamed write-in candidate,” and no undervotes were found in Pima County.
However, LaSota said the Maricopa County inspection found six votes that should have been counted for Hamade but were not counted in the end. This was confirmed by Arizona Republican witness Heidi Grande, who was one of the inspectors.
Maricopa County Co-Election Director Scott Jarrett supported Barr’s claims. “Based on a total of 14 votes, based on procedures established by Maricopa County, we have determined that there were 3 errors…all 3 errors should have added him 3 votes to Candidate Mays.” .”Said.
Jarrett acknowledged that some votes should have been sent to Mays based on the sole measure of voter intent, while noting that other votes were properly adjudicated according to procedure.
During the trial, LaSota presented evidence of the incorrect ballot in Count IV titled “Illegal and Incorrect Ballot Counts: Incorrect Ballot Ruling.” He admitted Thursday’s inspection yielded no further evidence from the original complaint against counts I-III of the lawsuit.
Maricopa County’s own Counts I and II: “Incorrect Ballot Counts and Board of Elections Misconduct; Fraudulent Disqualification of Provisional and Early Ballots” and “Incorrect Ballots and Board Malpractice; Fraudulent Provisional Voter exclusion” stems from each issue. At certain tally machines in Maricopa County on Election Day. Count III includes “Incorrect Votes; Duplicate Incorrect Ballots”.
Hamadeh alleges there were improperly transcribed ballots.
In closing arguments at the trial, Lasota argued that polling tests “clearly show a trend in Mr. Hamade’s favour,” but conceded that Mr. Hamade would not reach 511 based on the sample. said he was prevented from proving his claim because he was not given access to all the evidence he sought, including a list of voters who had been denied provisional ballots.
This provoked reactions from the defendants’ attorneys, including Andy Gaona, an attorney for Secretary of State Hobbes. He called the campaign “a glorious waste of time.”
“This farce has gone on long enough,” he said.
Tara Kavalor is a political reporter for the Arizona Republic. She can contact her by email. tara.kavaler@arizonarepublic.com or on twitter @kavalertara.
