Hamadeh asks Arizona high court for new trial on election challenge

PHOENIX — Claiming legal errors and improper government interference, Abe Hamadeh is asking the Arizona Supreme Court to order a new trial in his bid to overturn the attorney general’s election.

Hamadeh, the losing GOP candidate, and the Republican National Committee claim Mohave County Superior Court Judge Lee Jantzen acted improperly in limiting the amount of time he had to prepare his legal arguments seeking to overturn his 2022 loss to Democrat Kris Mayes. In new court filings, they say that denied them the ability to find evidence that some people legally entitled to vote did not have their ballots tabulated.

They also contend that more time would have enabled them to prove there were a sufficient number of situations where tabulators reported an “undervote’’ in the race for attorney general — essentially, that the voter had skipped the race — but where an examination of the ballots would show people did make a choice. Given that Hamadeh outpolled Mayes among Election Day voters, they say that could more than make up for Hamadeh’s 280-vote deficit.

Hamadeh and his lawyers also want the justices to conclude that Democrat Katie Hobbs, then secretary of state, acted improperly in withholding until six days after his December trial that a recount in Pinal County showed discrepancies in the totals. Hamadeh says that information could have provided the evidence that Mayes’ attorneys argued at trial was lacking as they called it a “farcical proceeding.’’

“That statement is reckless at best, deceitful at worst,’’ attorneys for Hamadeh and the RNC told the high court.

An order from a Maricopa County Superior Court judge had barred release of any county’s recount tally until the full statewide results were available. But Hamadeh contends it only barred county officials from providing the information and did not apply to Hobbs, who was a defendant in this case based on her position as secretary of state.

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“No authority permitted defendant Secretary to violate the duty of candor to the tribunal and to falsely assert that petitioners had no evidence while simultaneously suppressing facts that validated petitioners’ claims,’’ the new court filing states.

His legal team also lashed out at Maricopa County, also was a party in the litigation, for what he said was its delay in giving him timely access to the ballots while, at the same time, arguing to Jantzen that the judge should toss his challenge and confirm Mayes as attorney general.

“State and county officials used the power and purse of the government to take a substantive position in an election contest and to actively tip the scales of justice by withholding public records and concealing information that validated the vote count issues petitioners raised at trial,’’ they said.

How quickly the justices will act is unclear. The filing provides an opportunity for answers from Mayes, the Secretary of State’s Office and Maricopa County.