The election results in a rural Arizona county were certified on Thursday after a judge ordered the Republican supervisors to sign off on the vote count by this week's deadline.
The deadline to certify the election in Cochise County passed on Monday, but two Republicans on the board refused to do so for weeks. There were no issues with the election results. State and federal election officials have said that the machines used to tabulate ballots were approved for use in elections.
A local voter and a group of retirees asked a judge to force the supervisors to certify the election after the Secretary of State filed a suit. The statewide certification must be held on December 5, but can be delayed until December 8.
The election canvass must be approved by the supervisors by the end of the day.
One of the two Republicans who blocked certification said that she was not ashamed of her actions. I feel like I have to follow what the judge did today because of the court ruling and my own health issues.
Crosby didn't show up for the meeting.
The board's lone Democrat, Ann English, urged the judge to order the board to certify the election. Crosby is attempting to stage a fight between the secretary of state and the election deniers at a meeting on Friday.
English thinks that the circus doesn't need to happen. I've had enough. The public has had enough. If that is possible, I want a quick resolution to this.
The statewide certification can proceed as planned on Monday.
If the numbers from Cochise County aren't received in time, she may have to certify statewide results without them. The county voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Republicans.
The board members tried to find someone to take their cases, but couldn't. The elected county attorney wouldn't handle the cases because the supervisors acted illegally. The board voted hours before the hearing to hire a Phoenix-area attorney, but he wasn't up to speed before the hearing and didn't tell the court he was representing the supervisors.
The Republican supervisors abandoned their plan to hand count all the ballots after the court said it would be illegal. They wanted to hear more about those concerns before voting. There is a meeting on Friday.
Two companies are accredited by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to test and certify voting equipment.
The accreditation certificate for one of the companies that was posted online was the focus of a conspiracy theory. An administrative error resulted in the agency failing to issue an updated certificate as the company remained in good standing and underwent audits in the early years of the 21st century, according to federal officials.
The only way a testing company can lose certification is for the commission to do so, which didn't happen.
Lawyers who represented the defeated Republican candidates for governor and secretary of state were reprimanded by a federal judge.
The judge ordered the lawyers to pay the county's legal fees after agreeing with them that the lawsuit was based on frivolous information.
In their lawsuit, the lawyers made false, misleading, and unsupported factual assertions. The court will not tolerate false narratives that undermine public trust.
The lawyers for Lake and Finchem did not respond to a request for comment from The AP. They told the court that their claims were legal.
_____
There was a previous version of the story that said Mark was the Republican candidate. He was a candidate for Secretary of State.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
