On Tuesday night, the majority of America headed out to the poll and took in the results of their midterm elections. In Colorado, Jared Polis became the first openly gay governor in American history. In New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the youngest member of Congress at just twenty-nine years of age. Nearly every state has their own election result of note. However, some states are still unsure about who will be representing them beginning in January. Down in Georgia, Stacey Abrams is pushing for a recount in the state’s gubernatorial race. Further south, Florida has yet to officially confirm the results of its senate race. Out west, similar issues are taking place in the Arizona senate race.
With only 99% of the state officially reporting, Republican, Martha McSally, has a lead of approximately 17,000 votes over Democrat, Kyrsten Sinema. As you could probably guess, the race can not be officially called until 100% of the state reports results. With the race extremely close and the Democratic Party needing a win in the senate, much of the political world is looking closely at the race. As a result, the Republican party within the state is looking to hold on for the win. In response to the pending election results, four Republican organizations within Arizona have filed a lawsuit over the counting of mail-in ballots. Republican organizations in Yoma, Navajo, Apache and Maricopa are all filling lawsuits that challenge their county’s process for verifying mail-in ballots.
The state of Arizona, like other states, requires voters to verify their ballot with a signature. Those recording votes in the areas of interests are allegedly still calling voters whose signatures did not match the name they have on file to verify their ballot. If this is true, their ballots may not count because the state requires that this process take place before election day.
Chairman of the Arizona GOP Party, Jonathan Lines, has stated, “A foundational principle of American democracy and our justice system is that all votes are treated equally.” He also added, “It is not fair nor just that voters in one county are treated differently under the law from other voters in Arizona.”
A hearing on the matter is set for Friday, but could be accelerated to Thursday given the urgency of the matter.
