Political Notebook: Finchem hints he wouldn't certify a Biden victory

Mark Finchem, the GOP candidate for Arizona secretary of state, suggested in a Time Magazine article this week that he would not certify the vote if President Biden were to win Arizona in 2024.

In a cover story out this week, reporter Charlotte Alter said she called Finchem, an Oro Valley Republican, and asked him whether, if Biden wins Arizona in 2024, he as secretary of state would certify the vote.

Finchem chuckled, she reported, and said this: “If the law is followed, and legitimate votes have been counted, and Joe Biden ends up being the winner ... I’m required under the law — if there’s no fraud — to certify the election.”

Then Finchem added the key kicker: “I think you’re proposing something that, quite frankly, is a fantasy.”

The comment led to outrage among some online and in the news media. Laurie Roberts, columnist for the Arizona Republic, argued the comments should disqualify Finchem from the job because he’s suggesting he will only certify the election results that he likes.

Finchem’s reasoning also brought derision. Asked by Alter why it was so hard to imagine that Biden won Arizona in 2020 when polls before the election were showing that he likely would, Finchem said this: “Isn’t it interesting that I can’t find anyone who will admit that they voted for Joe Biden?”

Pressed on that, he went on to say “In a fantasy world, anything’s possible.”

Finchem, who is running against Democrat Adrian Fontes, did not contest the quotes in the story, but he resorted to the usual name, “Marxist,” that he applies to his critics and opponents when he responded to the story on Twitter.

“Time Magazine is Marxist propaganda and the people who write for that #FakeNews rag hate America,” he wrote.

While some were angered by Finchem’s comments, he may also have been incorrect in describing the secretary of state’s leeway in certifying elections. Under state law and the current state elections manual, the secretary of state does not have the power to consider whether there may have been fraud or other misconduct before certifying the results.

Eric Spencer, who was Arizona elections director under Republican Secretary of State Michele Reagan, pointed out that the manual says this: “The Secretary of State has a non-discretionary duty to canvass the returns as provided by the counties and has no authority to change vote totals or reject the election results.”

State law also makes it clear that if challenges to elections are to occur, they are supposed to occur after certification.

“By certifying the election, the secretary of state is not precluding others from making allegations of fraud or having their day in court to litigate the existence of that fraud,” said Spencer. “It’s a necessary precursor.”

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But while the elections manual and state law are pretty clear on this point, Spencer, who litigates election cases in private practice now, suspects the existing rules and law could change before 2024. He noted that in November 2020, a Maricopa County GOP official signed the certificate of a logic and accuracy test of that county’s machines but also wrote “certification denied” even though the machines passed the test.

“The expectations of the electorate are changing,” Spencer said. “People who under past politics would be on safe political ground to put their signature on a document no longer are on safe political ground.”

Polls favor Finchem

Recent polls suggest Finchem may be leading the race for Secretary of State a couple of weeks before early ballots are sent out.

An OH Predictive Insights poll of 654 likely Arizona voters, conducted Sept. 6-9, found that 40% favored Finchem while 35% favored Fontes. But 25% of those polled were still undecided, and the poll had a 3.8% margin of error.

Pollster Michael Noble said the results closely matched the generic ballot results, and the final outcome will likely be decided by independents.

A poll of 1,080 voters by the Trafalgar Group, conducted Sept. 14 to Sept. 17, found Finchem ahead of Fontes 48% to 41%, with 11% undecided and a 2.9% margin of error.

Finchem has a fundraising lead, too, having raised more than $1.2 million to Fontes’ approximately $700,000. But Moveon.Org Political Action has reported spending a total of almost $1.8 million opposing Finchem, though most of it was spent long before he won the primary election Aug. 2.

Pozzolo opens office

The Republican challenging Democrat Raúl Grijalva this round is opening a campaign office this week.

Luis Pozzolo’s office at 438 W. Ajo Way is scheduled to open Friday, Sept. 23.

That location is a little over mile from the Grijalva campaign headquarters near West Ajo and South Park Avenue, at 1021 E. Palmdale.

Pozzolo is the latest GOP challenger to Grijalva, who first won congressional office in 2002 and has had few close calls as he rolled up re-elections after that.