PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona’s largest county will start disclosing the results of ballots cast on Election Day at polling locations on Friday, offering hints as to whether Republicans can defeat Democrats in crucial contests for U. S. Governor and the Senate.
Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters would have to defeat Democratic incumbent Mark Kelly with half a million votes still to be counted statewide.
To surpass Democrat Katie Hobbs in the race for governor, Republican Kari Lake would need to outperform her.
By late Friday afternoon, Kelly had a 5.6% advantage over Masters while Hobbs had just a 1.2% advantage over Lake.
Republicans including Lake, who are convinced the remaining ballots strongly favor them, have been pressuring election officials in Maricopa County, which includes the majority of Arizona voters, to speed up the count.
Republican Bill Gates, chair of the County Board of Supervisors, stated that although the team is working quickly as possible, it takes time to complete the meticulous procedures required by Arizona law.
“We’re following the correct procedures. At the county elections office on Friday, Gates told reporters, “We’re not doing anything wrong at all. “It’s frustrating that someone from here would say that we are doing something incorrect.
“County officials reported that they had to process a record number of early ballots that were delivered on Election Day. On Election Day, voters delivered 292,000 early ballots, a 70% increase over the previous record set in 2020.
Counting those ballots is time-consuming because officials have to verify that each one came from a legitimate voter, a process that couldn’t begin until Wednesday.
According to Gates, Maricopa County will announce the results of 80,000 votes on Friday night, of which more than half come from the crucial batch of early votes cast on Election Day. A “good amount” of the approximately 17,000 ballots cast at voting locations on Tuesday that could not be immediately counted due to a printing issue will also be included in the report, along with the less than 10,000 ballots that were received prior to Tuesday.
The Tucson area’s Pima County also had a sizable chunk of votes left to count.
According to data from the secretary of state, the two urban counties in the state account for 90% of the remaining ballots.
Either party could clinch control of the U. S. Senate by winning Arizona and either the outstanding Nevada Senate contest, which remained too early to call Friday, or next month’s runoff in Georgia.
Democrats believe that some or all of their candidates may be able to hold onto their advantage in Arizona since the remaining ballots are likely to be considerably less favourable to the GOP.
By Friday afternoon, Democrats were in the lead in both the attorney general election and the secretary of state race, each by a margin of 5 points. There were only two points or less separating the candidates in two of the state’s uncalled House races. Democratic incumbent Greg Stanton led by 14 points after the third quarter.
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Big races in Arizona are still undeclared as the vote count continues.
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