OAN’s Sophia Flores
4:13 PM – Friday, October 6, 2023
A new law in Arizona has officials warning that the Grand Canyon State has the potential to miss a crucial deadline in the next election in relation to voter certification.
State lawmakers must solve calendar issues in order to prevent the delay of election results. Current Arizona laws automatically call for a recount if the final margin of the vote between two candidates is less than half a percentage point of total votes. According to state law, that recount can only take place once all of the votes are tallied.
Officials are arguing that the law “put(s) in jeopardy” immovable deadlines on the election calendar. The event that officials are most worried about is Electoral College process and ones that confirm the winners of the August primaries. Officials are fearful that a recount could affect presidential election ballots for the general election that need to be sent to the military and to overseas voters.
The law first came into place prior to the 2022 general midterm election cycle. Officials are worried about the law’s timeliness due to it never being tested during a full election cycle.
Some proposals officials have come up in order to avoid the dilemma include moving Arizona’s primary election to earlier in the summer. Another solution that has been pitched is to speed up the proofreading of ballots and to allow local officials to transmit results to the state.
Based off of data from the 2022 recounts, election officials believe that it would take around three weeks to count the ballots should the vote require a recount.
During the 2022 midterm elections, the Grand Canyon State had multiple recounts. One of the most notable recounts was for the attorney general race. Democrat Kris Mayes defeated Republican Abe Hamadeh. Mayes initially won by 511 votes. However, after the recount, he finished 280 votes ahead.
The once red state has become a swing state. All eyes will be on it in 2024 as it is expected to be on of the several battle states.
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