Republicans End Effort to Hand Count Ballots in Arizona County
Two Republican officials in Arizona have ended a bid to hand count ballots from the midterm elections, saying they don’t want to interfere with the looming recount in at least one statewide race.
Cochise County Supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd, both Republicans, told a court on Nov. 16 that they want to withdraw their lawsuit against county Elections Director Lisa Marra.
The pair had asked a judge to compel Marra to hand count the ballots, as the county board ordered before the election.
A judge in a separate case ruled on Nov. 7 that the county could not perform a hand count of 100 percent of the ballots, but that did not preclude Marra from conducting a hand count of fewer than 100 percent of the ballots, the supervisors said….