An Arizona judge has dismissed a Republican candidate’s lawsuit challenging the election results of the secretary of state race.
Democratic Party candidate Adrian Fontes beat Republican candidate Mark Finchem by over 120,000 votes in the Arizona secretary of state race in the midterms, according to election results (pdf) certified on Dec. 5 by the Arizona secretary of state.
Finchem filed a lawsuit (pdf) four days after the state certified the election results, alleging various issues happened during the election.
Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and Fontes both filed on Dec. 13 to dismiss the lawsuit.
Mellissa Iyer Julian, an Arizona Superior Court judge in Maricopa County, dismissed Finchem’s lawsuit on Friday with a point-by-point rebuttal in the ruling.
The judge granted Hobbs and Fontes’s motions to dismiss the case and confirmed the election of Fontes as the next Arizona secretary of state.
Julian also granted requests from Hobbs and Fontes to file applications for sanctions.
Counsel for Hobbs and Fontes could file a motion for sanctions within 10 days of the ruling.
The motion for sanctions will be considered separately.
It’s unclear if Finchem will appeal the ruling. The Epoch Times reached out to his campaign for comments.
Mohave County Pressed to Certify Election Results
Finchem challenged the election results from several fronts, one of them being the certification process of Mohave County.
Mohave County supervisors were forced to certify the results under the threat of prosecution from Hobbs’s subordinate Kori Lorick, he alleged.
“If Mohave County does not perform their ministerial duty to canvass your election results today, we will have no other choice but to pursue legal action and seek fees and sanctions against the board,” Lorick wrote in an email to the Mohave County Board on Nov. 28. “Our office will take all legal action necessary to ensure that Arizona’s voters have their votes counted, including referring the individual supervisors who vote not to certify for criminal enforcement.”
One supervisor admitted that he voted to certify the results under pressure.
“I vote ‘aye’ under duress. I found out today that I have no choice but to vote ‘aye’ or I will be arrested and charged with a felony,” Mohave County Board of Supervisors Chairman Ron Gould said while casting his vote on Nov. 28. “I don’t think that is what the Founders had in mind when they used the democratic process to elect our leaders.”
However, another Mohave board supervisor, Hildy Angius, said it’s meaningless to delay the certification.
“Delaying this vote again will only prolong the agony without actually changing anything,” Angius said Nov. 28. “What we certify here today is only Mohave County’s vote. I’m confident about this county under (Mohave County Elections Director) Allen Tempert and (County Recorder Kristi Blair). To not certify this election at all, I think, was never our intent. It would certainly disenfranchise the voters of Mohave County and hurt our candidates who worked so hard to get elected.”
Certifying the election results is within the authority of Hobbs’s office though the Mohave County supervisors might feel pressured, the judge said.
“Although other county officials also have certain duties with respect to the canvass, the law does place the final burden on the Secretary to ensure the canvass and certification of a general election is completed within the statutorily prescribed timeframes,” reads the ruling.
Kari Lake’s Lawsuit in Maricopa County
Another Republican candidate, Kari Lake, is also challenging the certified results of a statewide race.
A judge who is overseeing the Arizona gubernatorial race ruled on Friday that Lake may appoint an inspector to analyze a small selection of Maricopa County ballots cast in the 2022 midterm election.
The inspection may begin on Dec. 20, unless Lake’s lawsuit is dismissed beforehand, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson said in his ruling.
Thompson agreed that an inspector named by Lake may analyze 50 randomly selected “ballot-on-demand” (BOD) printed ballots; 50 “randomly selected early ballots;” and 50 “randomly selected BOD printed ballots that were marked spoiled” on Election Day.
The ballots will be randomly selected from ballots cast at six separate vote centers in Maricopa County, the state’s most populous electorate.
The only request Thompson rejected was to inspect 50 “randomly selected early ballot envelopes for early ballots.” The judge said state election contest statutes prohibit scrutiny of ballot envelopes.
Lake filed a lawsuit on Dec. 9 to challenge the results of the Arizona governor race, which has been officially certified Hobbs, who is currently the secretary of state, as the winner.
The trial date for Lake’s lawsuit is set for Dec. 20.
Jack Phillips and Caden Pearson contributed to this report.
Allen Zhong is a long-time writer and reporter for The Epoch Times. He joined the Epoch Media Group in 2012. His main focus is on U.S. politics. Send him your story ideas: allen.zhong@epochtimes.nyc
