Dem AZ Gov. Candidate Katie Hobbs Warns She’ll “Take Legal Action” Against County If They Permit Counting Votes By Hand

Arizona Democrat gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs, who also serves as the state’s top election official, warned she’d pursue legal action against a county if they approve the hand-counting of votes in the upcoming midterm elections.

The Arizona Secretary of State, who’s running against Republican nominee Kari Lake, put Cochise County on notice Friday, claiming the process is “illegal” and would “risk the integrity” of the election.

“Cochise County plans to vote to hand count every single race on every single ballot—w/ Election Day just 18 days away & early voting already started. That’s illegal & risks the integrity & accuracy of the election. I’ve warned them: If they proceed, I’ll take legal action,” Hobbs declared on Twitter Friday.

A letter accompanying Hobbs’ tweet from her State Elections Director Kori Lorick said there’s no need to doubt the accuracy and security of electronic voting machines, claimed it would take way too long to count the votes by hand, and encouraged board members to “abandon this misguided effort.”

“As you know, Arizona has rigorous standards in place to ensure that electronic voting systems used in our elections are secure and accurate, including federal and state certifications requirements, pre- and post-election logic and accuracy testing, and post-election limited hand count audits,” reads the letter to the Cochise County Board of Supervisors.

The letter went on to say hand counting is only permissible under Arizona law if “it becomes impracticable to count… ballots with tabulating equipment,” and claimed “a full hand count raises numerous concerns.”

“Notably, hand counting is necessarily time insensitive and prone to human error. Any election director in Arizona – the official responsible for overseeing tabulation of ballots – can attest that it’s impossible to complete an accurate hand count of an election with dozens of races on the ballot in time to comply with applicable statutory deadlines…”

“If the Board votes to proceed with a full hand count – putting at risk the accuracy and integrity of our elections – the Secretary will take all available legal action to ensure that Cochise County conducts the 2022 General Election in compliance with Arizona law.”

Despite Hobbs’ legal threat, the three-member Cochise County board scheduled a special board meeting Monday to discuss ordering a hand count, with Republican Board member Tom Crosby telling NBC affiliate 12 News he’s used to this type of “stonewalling.”

“I was a union representative for the Border Patrol,” Crosby told 12 News.  “I’m pretty familiar with Bureaucracy… Threats are after stonewalling.”

A meeting agenda item notes ultimately a “Machine count will determine election outcome” in Cochise County, but that the hand count is a “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.”

“Two other results of this hand count will be simply a 100% 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,” reads the agenda item presented by Republican board member Peggy Judd.

If everything’s on the up-and-up, why would Democrats be this outraged at a ceremonial hand count which won’t even be used to determine the election outcome?

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