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An Arizona County considers hand-counting ballots.
BISBEE — Should a proposed hand count of ballots in Tuesday’s election be approved or not? It is a question Judge Casey McGinley will be considering over the weekend.
Come Monday morning, McGinley, a Pima County Superior Court judge, plans to make his ruling and decide if Arizona statute or the Elections Procedure Manual should guide his decision.
It was an all-day hearing on the proposal by Board of Supervisors members Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby and County Recorder David Stevens to count by hand ballots cast by voters in Tuesday’s election.
The Republican supervisors and county recorder want a hand count so those voters who are wary of election results tallied by machine would know their ballots were accurately cast. In a meeting Oct. 24, many voters came out in support of and in opposition to the hand count.
Though Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, Cochise County Attorney Brian McIntyre and Chief Civil Deputy County Attorney Christine Roberts advised Judd and Crosby it would be illegal, they pushed ahead, leading to the lawsuit filed by the Arizona Alliance of Retired Americans Inc. and Democrat Stephani Stephenson.
Elections Director Lisa Marra, recognized widely in the state for her experience and knowledge, chose to follow the recommendation of the county attorneys and refused to be a party to it. Even so, she and Supervisor Ann English, a Democrat who voted in opposition to the hand count, were sued along with Judd, Crosby and Stevens.
The state Attorney General’s Office provided an “informal,” not fully researched, opinion to state Sen. David Gowan, which supported the hand count.
The proposal spurred a lawsuit filed by the Alliance and Stephenson which led to the courtroom and an out-of-county judge to make a decision on the hand count proposal. Cochise County Superior Court Judge Timothy Dickerson originally appointed Pima County Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson to handle the case, but it was McGinley, appointed by Gov. Doug Ducey in 2018, who was in the chair.
McGinley started by saying an amicus brief from Secretary of State Katie Hobbs would not be considered in his ruling as she waited too long to file it.
The plaintiffs in the case laid out their concerns, stating the hand count could harm Cochise County voters as the proposal came so close to Election Day and the plan for conducting the 100% hand count is not finalized. As ballots are moved from a county vault to tables somewhere in Sierra Vista, their concerns were heightened. They requested an injunction be placed to stop the count.
Come Monday morning, McGinley, a Pima County Superior Court judge, plans to make his ruling and decide if Arizona statute or the Elections Procedure Manual should guide his decision.
It was an all-day hearing on the proposal by Board of Supervisors members Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby and County Recorder David Stevens to count by hand ballots cast by voters in Tuesday’s election.
The Republican supervisors and county recorder want a hand count so those voters who are wary of election results tallied by machine would know their ballots were accurately cast. In a meeting Oct. 24, many voters came out in support of and in opposition to the hand count.
Though Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, Cochise County Attorney Brian McIntyre and Chief Civil Deputy County Attorney Christine Roberts advised Judd and Crosby it would be illegal, they pushed ahead, leading to the lawsuit filed by the Arizona Alliance of Retired Americans Inc. and Democrat Stephani Stephenson.
Elections Director Lisa Marra, recognized widely in the state for her experience and knowledge, chose to follow the recommendation of the county attorneys and refused to be a party to it. Even so, she and Supervisor Ann English, a Democrat who voted in opposition to the hand count, were sued along with Judd, Crosby and Stevens.
The state Attorney General’s Office provided an “informal,” not fully researched, opinion to state Sen. David Gowan, which supported the hand count.
The proposal spurred a lawsuit filed by the Alliance and Stephenson which led to the courtroom and an out-of-county judge to make a decision on the hand count proposal. Cochise County Superior Court Judge Timothy Dickerson originally appointed Pima County Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson to handle the case, but it was McGinley, appointed by Gov. Doug Ducey in 2018, who was in the chair.
McGinley started by saying an amicus brief from Secretary of State Katie Hobbs would not be considered in his ruling as she waited too long to file it.
The plaintiffs in the case laid out their concerns, stating the hand count could harm Cochise County voters as the proposal came so close to Election Day and the plan for conducting the 100% hand count is not finalized. As ballots are moved from a county vault to tables somewhere in Sierra Vista, their concerns were heightened. They requested an injunction be placed to stop the count.
This ignorance is taking place in Cochise County, Arizona. The implications of this are incredible. It would hand the opportunity to cheat to the party who got the most aggressive volunteers involved in the counting, which is exactly what Republicans want.
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