Dem
50
Ties
1
GOP
49
The Cochise County Board of Supervisors still hasn't certified the election results from Nov. 8, and now they've got a bunch of lawsuits on their hands. Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs (D-AZ) has filed one in her capacity as the current Arizona Secretary of State. There are also at least three lawsuits from private citizens and a couple from activist groups.
For the moment, at least, the supervisors are sticking to their guns. They held an emergency meeting yesterday and decided to retain a lawyer. Apparently, their dream counsel is Bryan Blehm, who represented Cyber Ninjas in their various legal tilts. Whether he has accepted the job is unclear. And how the supervisors are going to pay him (or some other lawyer) is also unclear. They are not legally allowed to accept gifts or donations, so the money will presumably have to come from their own pockets.
It is likely this will get fast tracked, and that the supervisors will be compelled by one or more judges to comply with the law. Note that the vote is consistently 2-1, so all it will take is for one of the two Republicans to defect. However, if this does not get resolved by the time that Arizona is legally required to report its results (Dec. 8), then it will be as if the people of Cochise County never voted. That, in turn, would flip two election results: Superintendent of Public Instruction for Cochise County, and... House seat AZ-06. At the moment, Rep.-elect Juan Ciscomani (R), who won 50.7% of the vote, is headed to Washington. However, without those Cochise votes, it will be Kirsten Engel (D), who took 49.3%. One imagines that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy will soon be placing phone calls to the two Republican supervisors in Cochise, and that instead of "Stop the Steal" he'll be talking to them about "Stop the Stupid." (Z)