Arizona’s secretary of state, Democrat Katie Hobbs, sued a state county on Monday for refusing to certify her victory against Republican candidate Kari Lake in the recent gubernatorial election.
“The Cochise County Board of Supervisor . . . has, without justification, failed to fulfill its mandatory duty to meet and approve its canvass of the results of the 2022 General Election by the statutory deadline of November 28, 2022,” the lawsuit claimed.
Hobbs’ team opted for legal action after the county voted not to canvass the election by the required deadline. The county said it was delaying the process until after it reviewed testimony from individuals who had objections to certification, the lawsuit notes.
“Cochise County had a statutory duty to certify the results of the 2022 General Election by today. My office has filed a lawsuit to ensure all voters have their votes county,” Hobbs tweeted.
The lawsuit seemed to threaten the county with an ultimatum, warning that the secretary of state’s office could resort to continuing with certification by December 5 without the votes of Cochise County. With those ballots missing, the outcome of races for a U.S. House seat and a state schools-chief position could reverse from Republican to Democrat, according to Azfamily.com.
“The Board’s inaction not only violates the plain language of the statute, but also undermines a basic tenet of free and fair elections in this state: ensuring that every Arizonan’s voice is heard,” the lawsuit read.
On Tuesday, the board congregated for an emergency meeting, at which the members agreed to hire a law firm to represent them.
The lawsuit comes as Lake has yet to concede the Arizona gubernatorial race to Hobbs. The Trump-supporting firebrand has argued that the outcome is illegitimate, citing voting problems in multiple Maricopa County localities. Over the weekend, Lake sued election officials from the county, where tabulator machines at multiple voting centers in GOP-rich districts experienced significant malfunctions on Election Day, forcing some residents to either leave without voting, or to vote via a manual alternative method. The former TV anchor alleged in the suit that the county broke election laws and disenfranchised voters.
On Sunday, Maricopa County released a report concluding that the tabulator issues that affected roughly 20 percent of its voting locations did not ultimately compromise the freeness or fairness of the midterm elections in Arizona.
“While Maricopa County’s printer issue in 2022 impacted more Vote Centers than normal, every voter was afforded the ability to legally and securely cast their ballot,” the report read.