Mayes likely winner in race for Arizona attorney general

PHOENIX — Democrat Kris Mayes apparently will be Arizona’s next attorney general.

A final tally of all votes showed that that Mayes, a former Republican member of the Arizona Corporation Commission, outpolled GOP foe Abe Hamadeh by 510 votes out of more than 2.5 million ballots for that race.

The race is headed for an automatic recount.

That is required under state law if the margin of victory is less than one-half of one percent of all the votes cast in that race.

But a recount in Arizona simply requires each county to run the ballots again through tabulating equipment — once they have been recalibrated and tested — and does not require any hand count. And these rarely show any significant difference.

That race was the last to be decided after Maricopa County on Monday announced the tally of the last approximately 3,400 votes that had yet to be counted. All other counties finished their counting by Saturday.

The final results have to be formally certified by all counties, something that must take place by Nov. 28.

Supervisors in both Cochise and Mohave counties, however, have delayed conducting the formal canvass.

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In the case of Cochise County, two Republican supervisors have questioned the accuracy of the results even though they have yet to cite any particular irregularities. Instead they contend that there is no evidence the vote-counting machines were legally certified despite assurances to the contrary from the Secretary of State’s Office.

They also have pushed, unsuccessfully, for a full hand count.

The Mohave County delay appears to be more political.

There, supervisors said they were protesting what they saw as questions in how Maricopa County conducted its elections. Some Republicans contend that problems with voting machines on Election Day in the state’s largest county, coupled with long lines at some polling locations, resulted in disenfranchising GOP voters who were more likely to vote in person than Democrats.

Republican Kari Lake who lost the gubernatorial race to Katie Hobbs has said she is consulting with attorneys. But Lake, who lost by more than 17,000 votes, has failed to file any legal action that would allow a judge to overturn the results — assuming that is even legally possible.

Mayes’ victory means three Democrats won their races for statewide office. That includes Hobbs and Adrian Fontes who defeated Republican Mark Finchem for secretary of state.

Of note is that more than 83,000 people who cast a ballot this year skipped the race for attorney general, far more than enough to have made a difference.