Republicans in Arizona County End Effort to Hand Count Ballots

Two Republican county officials in Arizona have ended a bid to force a hand count of midterm election ballots, 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 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 had ordered before the election.
A judge in a separate case ruled on Nov. 7 that the county couldn’t perform a hand count of 100 percent of the ballots, but that didn’t preclude Marra from a hand count of less than 100 percent, the supervisors said….