Republican Mark Finchem drops appeal of 2022 loss in Arizona election

Republican Mark Finchem is dropping his bid to overturn the 2022 race for secretary of state that he lost, after a trial judge rejected it.

In a brief filing, his attorney pointed out that appellate-level courts have so far rejected claims by failed GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake that there were mistakes made in how the election was run and how counties tabulated the votes that she claims entitle her to be declared the winner over Katie Hobbs or to get a new election ordered.

Finchem’s attorney, Daniel McCauley, also noted that Republican Abe Hamadeh has so far failed to convince a trial judge to set aside the 2022 results showing he lost the race for attorney general to Democrat Kris Mayes.

Their allegations “more or less mirror Mr. Finchem’s,” McCauley told the Arizona Court of Appeals.

Also, while both Lake and Hamadeh continue their appeals, their margins of loss were far less than Finchem’s. He lost to Democrat Adrian Fontes by more than 120,000 votes out of more than 2.5 million cast.

As a result, McCauley said, Finchem “has decided to forego the appeal of his election contest dismissal.’’

But McCauley told Capitol Media Services this may not be the end of Finchem’s chances of becoming secretary of state. The key, he said, is the still-pending litigation by Lake. She has raised a variety of legal issues, many of them relating to whether early ballots were counted that shouldn’t have been.

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That is based on Lake’s claims — dismissed by a trial judge as baseless — that there is no way election workers could perform the legally required signature verification given the time it took. Her attorneys cited data saying more than 70,000 signatures were compared and verified in under two seconds each, among more than 276,000 verified in less than three seconds.

“If Kari Lake winds up having several hundred thousand votes discounted, Finchem’s name or Fontes’ name will be on them as well,’’ McCauley said. “So it could well result in the reduction of totals across the election, not just for Kari Lake. ... So we’re willing to wait and see.’’

But even if Lake wins her claim and ballots are disqualified, McCauley did not explain how Finchem, with no active appeal pending, would manage to get a court to rule that he and not Fontes was elected secretary of state.

Regardless, Finchem is not dropping his appeal of the order by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Melissa Julian that he pay $40,565 in legal fees and costs to Fontes. Also still on appeal is a separate $7,434 penalty the judge imposed against McCauley for filing a lawsuit the judge previously called “groundless and not brought in good faith.’’

Finchem, a former state lawmaker from Oro Valley, filed paperwork last month to run for the state Senate against incumbent Ken Bennett. Finchem listed an address in Prescott.