The election staffers in Arizona's two most populous counties planned to work through the weekend counting remaining ballots from Tuesday's election, with an update in the governor's race expected Saturday evening.
The race for governor was too close to call on Friday, with just 31,000 votes separating the two candidates.
More than one million votes have been counted so far. Tucson in Pima County is one of the population centers in Arizona.
Lake narrowed the gap as day-of election votes were counted, though the early returns from both counties favored the same person.
Rural versus urban geography is included in the purple state's election math equation.
Most of the ballots that were mailed to voters but dropped off on election day are expected to be included in the results update.
There is a lot of speculation about which candidate will get the most votes.
Donald Trump was able to close the gap on Joe Biden due to voters who cast ballots in person on election day. Lake won 70% of the votes.
Many political observers attribute that shift to voters showing up in person because of Trump's efforts casting doubt on elections before and after his ousting.
There is a different scenario when statewide Democratic candidates perform better on Election Day. As day-of ballots and late-arriving mail ballots were counted in the race for secretary of state, Sinema and Hobbs slowly climbed to victory.
A record number of ballots were dropped off in the county. Ballots must be removed from an affidavit envelope and staffers must verify voters' signatures before they can be counted.
They are unsure if they will support Lake, who did better among Election Day voters, or Hobbs, who dominated the early vote. A possible bellwether of days to come was expected to come from the Saturday count in the county.
One of the few remaining high-profile races in the country is the election of a new governor in Arizona.
He urged patience while waiting for the results.
"As we await outstanding ballots, I remain confident in the will of (Arizona) voters and am grateful to the election officials diligently working to ensure every vote is properly counted," he said. Thanks for keeping an eye on our race. We are looking forward to the future.
Lake went on a tour of national and conservative media appearances saying she was confident she would win. She pledges to reform the state's terrible elections that are ripe with fraud. She didn't reply to a request for comment from The Arizona Republic.
Arizona election officials stoking fears on mail in ballots.
Lake told Tucker Carlson that nothing was being done. If we dare to bring it up, our elected officials tell us we're election deniers. We have to bring this up.
About 30% of voting locations had issues on Election Day, with the ballots printed on-site not dark enough to read. The timing of the vote counting and the length of the process were atypical according to Lake.
The Pima County officials were going to update their results every evening until all the votes were counted. The county's officials usually make an announcement about 8 pm.
The reporter can be reached at stacey.barchener@arizonarepublic.com You can follow her on the social networking site.
Local journalism needs your support. You can subscribe to azcentral.com
The article was originally published on Arizona Republic.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
