Arizona's unexpected role in helping to decide the presidential race continuedย early Thursday with a narrowing race that had the whole country watching.
Based on figures released close to 1 a.m. Thursday by the Secretary of State's Office, former Vice President Joe Biden held on to a lead of 68,000 votes with 51 percent vs. 48 percent for Trump.ย
At least 312,000 ballots in Maricopa County and more than 46,000 in Pima County had yet to be tallied as of early Thursday. The balance are in the state's rural counties.
The after-hours vote drops โ 76,000 votes Wednesday evening and another 62,000 votes early Thursday โ consisted of early ballots dropped off in the daysย before the election, which were believed to lean more Republican than mail-in ballots.
More vote drops are expected later today.
Photos: 2020 General Election in Pima County and Arizona
Ballot processing in Pima County
UpdatedBallot processing in Pima County
UpdatedBallot processing in Pima County
UpdatedBallot processing in Pima County
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UpdatedBallot processing in PIma County
UpdatedBallot processing in PIma County
UpdatedBallot processing in PIma County
UpdatedBallot processing, Pima County
UpdatedBallot processing, Pima County
UpdatedBallot processing, Pima County
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection 2020 Senate Kelly
UpdatedElection 2020 Senate Kelly
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection 2020 Arizona Voting
UpdatedElection 2020 Arizona Voting
UpdatedElection 2020 Arizona Voting
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection 2020 Arizona Voting
UpdatedElection 2020 Arizona Voting
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection 2020 Arizona Voting
UpdatedElection 2020 Arizona Voting
UpdatedElection 2020 Arizona Voting
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection 2020 Arizona Voting
UpdatedElection 2020 Arizona Voting
UpdatedElection 2020 Arizona Voting
UpdatedElection 2020 Arizona Voting
UpdatedElection 2020 Arizona Voting
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedElection Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
UpdatedJudge throws out lawsuit, finds no fraud or misconduct in Arizona election
UpdatedPHOENIX โ A judge tossed out a bid by the head of the Arizona Republican Party to void the election results that awarded the stateโs 11 electoral votes to Democrat Joe Biden.
The two days of testimony produced in the case brought by GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward produced no evidence of fraud or misconduct in how the vote was conducted in Maricopa County, said Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Randall Warner in his Friday ruling.
Warner acknowledged that there were some human errors made when ballots that could not be read by machines due to marks or other problems were duplicated by hand.
But he said that a random sample of those duplicated ballots showed an accuracy rate of 99.45%.
Warner said there was no evidence that the error rate, even if extrapolated to all the 27,869 duplicated ballots, would change the fact that Biden beat President Trump.
The judge also threw out charges that there were illegal votes based on claims that the signatures on the envelopes containing early ballots were not properly compared with those already on file.
He pointed out that a forensic document examiner hired by Wardโs attorney reviewed 100 of those envelopes.
And at best, Warner said, that examiner found six signatures to be โinconclusive,โ meaning she could not testify that they were a match to the signature on file.
But the judge said this witness found no signs of forgery.
Finally, Warner said, there was no evidence that the vote count was erroneous. So he issued an order confirming the Arizona election, which Biden won with a 10,457-vote edge over Trump.
Federal court case remains to be heard
Fridayโs ruling, however, is not the last word.
Ward, in anticipation of the case going against her, already had announced she plans to seek review by the Arizona Supreme Court.
And a separate lawsuit is playing out in federal court, which includes some of the same claims made here along with allegations of fraud and conspiracy.
That case, set for a hearing Tuesday, also seeks to void the results of the presidential contest.
It includes allegations that the Dominion Software voting equipment used by Maricopa County is unreliable and was programmed to register more votes for Biden than he actually got.
Legislative leaders call for audit but not to change election results
Along the same lines, Senate President Karen Fann and House Speaker Rusty Bowers on Friday called for an independent audit of the software and equipment used by Maricopa County in the just-completed election.
โThere have been questions,โ Fann said.
But she told Capitol Media Services it is not their intent to use whatever is found to overturn the results of the Nov. 3 election.
In fact, she said nothing in the Republican legislative leadersโ request for the inquiry alleges there are any โirregularitiesโ in the way the election was conducted.
โAt the very least, the confidence in our electoral system has been shaken because of a lot of claims and allegations,โ Fann said. โSo our No. 1 goal is to restore the confidence of our voters.โ
Bowers specifically rejected calls by the Trump legal team that the Legislature come into session to void the election results, which were formally certified on Monday.
โThe rule of law forbids us to do that,โ he said.
In fact, Bowers pointed out, it was the Republican-controlled Legislature that enacted a law three years ago specifically requiring the stateโs electors โto cast their votes for the candidates who received the most votes in the official statewide canvass.โ
He said that was done because Hillary Clinton had won the popular vote nationwide in 2016 and some lawmakers feared that electors would refuse to cast the stateโs 11 electoral votes for Trump, who won Arizonaโs race that year.
โAs a conservative Republican, I donโt like the results of the presidential election,โ Bowers said in a prepared statement. โBut I cannot and will not entertain a suggestion that we violate current law to change the outcome of a certified election.โ
Photos of the 2020 General Election voting, election night and ballot processing in Pima County, Maricopa County and throughout Arizona.