Democrat Chris Mays, seen here in the September debate against Republican Abe Hamade, was declared the winner in the race for attorney general after a recount. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
A Maricopa County Superior Court judge released the results of three election recounts this morning, confirming Democrat Chris Mays as the state’s next Attorney General.
Judge Timothy Thomason announced that Mays received 1,254,809 votes against Republican Abe Hamade’s 1,254,529 votes. That meant Mays won by just 280 votes.
The recount also confirmed that Republican Tom Horn won the election for superintendent of public education.
Republican candidate for Arizona Attorney General Abraham Hamade smiles before a televised debate against Democrat Chris Mays on Sept. 28. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
The recount wasn’t without its ensuing last-minute drama ABC15‘s Garrett Archer last night tweeted information from a source that the rural county, rumored to be Pinal County, had a large vote disparity in the AG election, but he was pointing in a direction in favor of Hamade. He said it was not enough to tilt the scale to .
The hint was prescient, as Mays’ lead shrunk from 511 votes to 280 after the recount, but it’s unclear which county was responsible for the discrepancy.
Hamade’s attorney, Tim La Sota, filed a motion to suspend the recount results this morning based on Archer’s tweet.
However, his motion was rejected by Thomason at a hearing.
La Sota later asked the court to delay entering the results until the end of the business day to consider legal options, which Thomason also denied.
La Sota declined to comment after the hearing.
Hamade demanded inspection of all ballots on Twitter shortly after the recount was announced, writing that “the outcome of this election is uncertain.”
Hamade representatives were given the opportunity to inspect nearly 2,600 ballots in Maricopa County in the first election campaign. The election saw a series of allegations of fraud involving ballot and printer issues. Of his 2,600 votes tested, only 6 were undervoted for Hamade.
In closing arguments on December 23, La Sota admitted that it had failed to find 511 votes to overturn the race, and a Mojave County judge confirmed Mays’ victory from the bench.
Today, Thomason once again confirmed Mays’ victory, while Horne became superintendent of education, and Jennifer Paulick and Republican Liz Harris won two seats in the 13th District Legislature.
Horn defeated Kathy Hoffman by 9,188 votes, while Harris defeated fellow Republican Julie Willoughby by 275 votes.
This year’s recount was the first to adhere to the new margin set by the bill passed by the last Congress. Races will be recounted if they are within 0.5% instead of the previous 0.1% margin.
