Another 27,000 voters cast early ballots, but there's no way around a Pima County Superior Court judge's ruling blocking the expansion of the normal 1% hand-count audit of those ballots. The Arizona Court of Appeals also refused to expedite it, instead setting a normal briefing schedule that would put any decisions months down the road.īoard Member Peggy Judd did not return a Friday call seeking comment, and Stevens declined to comment further on how and when he would conduct the hand count of the vast majority of the nearly 12,000 votes cast at polling places on Tuesday. The two Republicans who hold the majority on the county board and Stevens are appealing Monday's decision, but the state Supreme Court refused to fast-track the appeal in an order released Friday. “Two other results of this hand count will be simply a larger random selection audit of machine accuracy and a test of our back-up plan in case some or all of our machines become compromised or fail at last minute.” “They are wishing to take part in this way to help people (including a few of the participants) who have lost trust in elections to see that elections are reliable and secure in our county," the agenda says. The item notes that Stevens has lined up more than 200 volunteers to tally the results of four races. ![]() But Stevens is now not answering direct questions on the issue. And the agenda for Tuesday's meeting says the count could start before board approval. ![]() Stevens said earlier this week he hoped to start on Monday. It is unclear when the hand-count will start. ”We will take action if Defendants move to violate the court’s order or violate Arizona law.” “We are considering our legal options," Lisa Cutler, spokeswoman for the Alliance for Retired Americans, said in a statement. They vowed another challenge if Cochise County officials veer from the court order. It will also not go unchallenged by the group that sued and won a court order on Monday to stop it. He noted that ballots are held by the county elections director, and removing them or interfering with her work to certify the results would be among the felonies being committed if Republican County Recorder David Stevens takes the ballots to count them by hand. “It is my sincere hope that no action will be required of them and that the rule of law will prevail.” ![]() “I have alerted the appropriate authorities to the potential violations based on the statements of two elected officials connected to this,” McIntyre wrote. The Republican-dominated Cochise County board is taking that part of the order literally, proposing to expand the count to 99.9% of the ballots cast on Election Day, apparently to meet the random standard.Įlected County Attorney Brian McIntyre told the board and its lawyers in a Thursday letter that going forward with the plan could lead to felony charges against the participants for violating numerous laws.
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