The election challenge in the race for Arizona Attorney General is not over yet, and may go on longer than expected due to new ballots showing up favoring Republican Abe Hamadeh. After the recount, which was ordered automatically due to the close race, Democrat Kris Mayes’ lead dropped from 511 to 280 votes. Throughout U.S. history, in extremely close races, ballots are closely scrutinized, and often some are thrown out, or others that weren’t counted were added in, often flipping the race.
Hamadeh tweeted on Thursday, “Katie Hobbs and SOS Office abused our courts and made a mockery of the justice system. They knew the results of the recount was going to show a LARGE discrepancy due to tabulation errors and fought against our election contest knowing this. They deceived the courts.”
Katie Hobbs and SOS Office abused our courts and made a mockery of the justice system.
They knew the results of the recount was going to show a LARGE discrepancy due to tabulation errors and fought against our election contest knowing this.
They deceived the courts.
— Abe Hamadeh (@AbrahamHamadeh) December 29, 2022
He added, “Every day that goes by my opponent’s lead has been shrinking. This recount has an unusually high discrepancy rate and swing. This is all without a complete inspection of the ballots. My opponent gained 196 votes, I gained 427. The outcome of this election is uncertain.”
Every day that goes by my opponent’s lead has been shrinking. This recount has an unusually high discrepancy rate and swing. This is all without a complete inspection of the ballots.
My opponent gained 196 votes, I gained 427.
The outcome of this election is uncertain.
— Abe Hamadeh (@AbrahamHamadeh) December 29, 2022
Perhaps the most famous close election in the U.S. ever involving a recount was the 2000 presidential election. Republican George W. Bush initially led Democrat Al Gore in Florida, the deciding state, by just over 300 votes. Gore requested hand counts in four counties. Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris gave the counties a deadline to complete the hand counts, which they did not all comply with, so they were omitted. The Florida Supreme Court ordered a recount of over 70,000 ballots previously rejected as undervotes by machine counters. Still, the U.S. Supreme Court halted that order due to questioning the legitimacy of those ballots, and Bush was declared the winner by 537 votes.
In 1868, Democrat Plato Durham won a congressional race in North Carolina by 18 votes, defeating Republican Alexander H. Jones. Republicans complained of voter fraud, and General Canby at Charleston threw out some votes, allowing Jones to defeat Durham.
In 2005, Democrat Ophelia Ford initially defeated Republican Terry Roland by 13 votes in a Tennessee State Senate race. After allegations of voting by felons and nonresidents of the district as well as three ballots cast by dead voters in one polling place, the Tennessee State Senate voided the results. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation investigated, and District Attorney Bill Gibbons obtained 37 indictments against three Shelby County poll workers for election fraud. The GOP-controlled Shelby County Commission selected a Republican to fill the seat.
In 1984 in Indiana, Democrat Frank McCloskey won a race for Congress by 72 votes over Republican challenger Rick McIntyre. Indiana’s Republican Secretary of State Edwin Simcox
refused to certify him pending a legal challenge by McIntyre. A tabulation error was found a month later, and McIntyre took the lead by 34 votes and was certified by Simcox. A statewide recount was completed, which showed McIntyre with a 418-vote lead. The House conducted its own recount, in which it made several controversial decisions, declaring McCloskey the winner by just four votes. Republicans staged a procedural protest and a walkout to protest what they viewed as a stolen seat.
In 2004, Republican Dino Rossi initially won a close gubernatorial race in Washington state, defeating Democrat Christine Gregoire by 261 votes. A recount confirmed his win by 42 points. Democrats, with the help of Democratic King County Director of Elections Dean Logan, discovered 723 new ballots. Other counties subsequently found uncounted ballots. The new recount put Gregoire as the winner by 129 votes. Chairman of the Washington State Republican Party Chris Vance stated that he was “absolutely convinced that King County is trying to steal this election.”
The Washington State Superior Court found that 1,400 felons illegally voted, along with illegal votes cast by 53 dead people, two non-citizens and 27 double votes. However, since Washington doesn’t require political party registration, the court said there was no way to determine how they would have voted and refused to void the election.
Similarly, in 2008, comedian and Democrat Al Franken defeated Republican incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman in Minnesota by 312 votes in a final recount. A study by Minnesota Majority found that at least 341 convicted felons voted in the race. Felons tend to vote for Democrats, but when provided with the evidence, some of the prosecutors ignored it.
In 1996, California Republican Congressman Bob Dornan was defeated by Democrat Loretta Sanchez by a narrow margin of 984 votes. John Fund, in his book Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy, said that an INS investigation in 1996 into alleged Motor Voter fraud in California’s 46th District revealed that “4,023 illegal voters possibly cast ballots in the disputed election between Republican Robert Dornan and Democrat Loretta Sanchez.”
Hamadeh’s election lawsuit was dismissed last week by a Mohave County Superior Court judge, and he intends to appeal.
The results of the recount show that my opponent’s lead has been cut by nearly half from 511 to 280 votes. A shockingly high discrepancy. Again, a recount just puts the ballots in the machine again.
My legal team will be assessing our options to make sure every vote is counted.
— Abe Hamadeh (@AbrahamHamadeh) December 29, 2022
– – –
Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Abraham Hamadeh” by Abraham Hamadeh. Background Photo “Election Day 2022” by Phil Roeder. CC BY 2.0.
