The Dean Obeidallah Show: Why Arizonans Shouldn’t Be Worrying about Elections: After a Million Years, Hillary Clinton Has Done It All

Editor’s Note: Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney, is the host of SiriusXM radio’s daily program “The Dean Obeidallah Show” and a columnist for The Daily Beast. Follow him on his official account. The opinions are of his own. View more opinion on CNN.

Lake has offered a lot of claims and theories. She hasn’t demonstrated that more than 17,000 votes were somehow flipped from R to D. Unless she’s carefully hiding some silver-bullet evidence (and why would she?), few Arizonans are buying her story. Her Trump-style campaign failed, and her Trump-style post-election complaints are failing as well. That’s a relief.

In the GOP primary debate in June, Lake declared that 34,000 ballots were counted 2, 3 and 4 times in Arizona, and that 200,000 were sold by mules. She said that Biden lost the election and shouldn’t be in the White House.

Lake has also called for the imprisonment of journalists she claims have lied about the election. She has spoken against vaccine mandates and declared that women are inferior at a conservative summit. “God did not create us to be equal to men,” she said.

Perhaps most alarming of all is that despite all of this, polls show Lake and her Democratic opponent Hobbs virtually tied, with three weeks remaining until Election Day.

Hobbs defeated Lake by 17,117 votes, or a 0.6% difference. Kris Mayes, the Democratic candidate for attorney general, edged out Republican Abe Hamadeh by a mere 511 votes, triggering an automatic recount.

Secretary of state contests — typically low-profile races that determine who helps administer elections in a state – have drawn national attention and millions of dollars in political spending this year as several Republican nominees who doubt the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election pursue the jobs.

In all, voters in 27 states will choose secretaries of state in the midterms. Republicans hold 14 of the seats and Democrats hold 13 of them.

Voting rights advocates worry that election deniers will influence the outcome of future elections, including a potential return to power by President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.

Arizona: In Arizona – where election conspiracy theories have flourished ever since Biden won this traditionally red state by fewer than 11,000 votes two years ago – Republican voters picked state Rep. Mark Finchem as their standard-bearer. Trump gave him an endorsement back in September of 2021. The GOP lawmaker wants to overturn the results of the 2020 election in some of the state’s largest counties, including Arizona’s largest city, Phoenix, where a widely derided review of ballots ordered by Republicans in the state Senate still concluded that Biden had won more votes than Trump.

One of the country’s best-known election chiefs is Republican Brad Raffensperger, who in Georgia refused to help Trump find votes that could overturn his loss in the state. A grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia is investigating the campaign by Trump and his allies.

Michigan: The race pits the incumbent, Democrat Jocelyn Benson – a leading national voice countering election denial – against Republican Kristina Karamo, who has made false claims about the 2020 election and who was behind the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

Karamo, a community college professor who secured an endorsement from Trump last year, has said he won the election, and she signed on to an unsuccessful Supreme Court lawsuit that challenged Biden’s victory in four states.

There is a seesawing race for attorney general between Kris Mayes, a Democrat, and Mr. Hamadeh, who also railed against the news media. Mr. Finchem, a Trump-backed conspiracy theorist who has said he is a member of the Oath Keepers militia group, is trailing Adrian Fontes, a Democrat and the former recorder of the largest county, in the race for secretary of state.

On Twitter, Ms. Lake and Mr. Masters have projected victory. Ms. Lake told Fox News on Thursday that she had “absolute 100 percent confidence that I will be the next governor of Arizona.” Mr. Hamadeh, after taking a small lead in his uncalled race, posted a photo on Twitter of himself at a rally and seemed to claim victory, writing, “I want to thank the people of Arizona for entrusting me with this great responsibility.” He is now slightly behind after losing ground.

In a call with reporters on Friday afternoon, Masters campaign advisers argued that Masters had a path to victory. One campaign official said, “We always knew it would be a close race.” “Smart observers looking at this race know it is entirely too close to call. It’s probably going to come down to 10,000 votes either way. We have a path, and we feel good.

Mark Kelly of the Arizona Senate: After Biden’s 2020 win, CNN predicts a decisive outcome for the 2020 midterm presidential race

On Twitter, Mr. Finchem jokingly asked his followers to “make sure” Ms. Hobbs and Mr. Fontes weren’t “in the back room with ballots in Pima or Maricopa.” Mr. Fontes replied, writing, “Stop with this conspiracy garbage.”

Both Mr. Fontes and Ms. Hobbs have asked supporters to respect the vote-counting process. The pattern and cadence of incoming votes are exactly what we expected, even though my election-denying opponent is trying to spin.

The final results could take even longer to be determined, because a new Arizona law calls for an automatic recount in all electoral contests where the difference between the top two candidates was 0.5 percent or less of the total votes cast.

CNN projects that Mark Kelly will be the Democratic nominee in Arizona and win a full six-yearterm, despite the fact that a venture capitalist supported by Donald Trump was running against him.

Democrats need only one more seat to gain control of the Senate, as they hold 49 seats compared to 49 for Republicans. They could reach that critical 50-seat threshold if they are successful in Nevada, where Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto is closing in on Republican Adam Laxalt, the state’s former attorney general – who called the 2020 presidential election “rigged” and filed lawsuits on Trump’s behalf trying to overturn Biden’s 2020 victory in the Silver State.

The Nevada Senate race has been deadlocked for months, but it could ultimately determine the balance of power in the upper chamber. Democrats are also defending a seat in Georgia, where Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker are headed to a December 6 runoff, CNN projects.

Control of the US House still hangs in the balance. Even though Republicans won’t win a majority, they will still be much closer to a minority than GOP leaders had anticipated. Kevin McCarthy, the House Minority Leader, was expecting to become the next House majority leader, but the result has caused recriminations and second-guessing on his part.

Even in a state like Arizona that Joe Biden narrowly won, Kelly was well positioned to stand up to Democrats because of his impressive legacies as a Navy veteran, retired Air Force pilot and husband of a former congresswoman.

As the votes were counted in Arizona, Masters’ campaign team had hoped that an unusually large tranche of mail-in ballots that were dropped off at polling locations on Election Day would favor Republicans. Those ballots in Maricopa County, the state’s most populous, took longer to count than those cast in person on Tuesday because officials had to verify signatures on the ballot envelopes.

Earlier in the race, Masters, a first-time candidate, was able to navigate the GOP primary gauntlet with significant financial backing from conservative tech billionaire Peter Thiel, his former boss. He appealed to Republicans by promising to focus on immigration issues, even as he echoed Trump’s lies about the 2020 election. In his campaign video last year, he stated he believed Trump won the election.

But Masters seemed to reverse course after receiving a phone call from Trump urging him to “go stronger” on election denialism, a conversation that was captured in a Fox documentary. In the final week of the campaign, Masters told CNN’s Lah he did not think moderates would be bothered by his comments about the 2020 election, because voters were focused on their concerns about inflation, crime and the border.

After his primary victory in August, Masters scrubbed his website of language that included the false claim that the election was stolen. Under questioning from the moderator during a debate with Kelly, Masters conceded that he had not seen evidence of fraud in the 2020 vote counting or election results in a way that would have changed the outcome. In that debate, Kelly argued that election deniers like Masters could take the wheels off of our democracy.

Masters had said he would back a national ban on abortion after 15 weeks. That bill includes exceptions for rape, incest and to protect the life of the mother.

Election Denialists in Arizona: Adrian Fontes Wins the House Majority of the State Democratic Secretary of State Against Mark Finchem

Democrat Adrian Fontes, who previously ran elections for Arizona’s largest county, has been narrowly elected to oversee voting in the entire state as secretary of state, according to a race call by The Associated Press.

Fontes defeated Republican Mark Finchem, a far-right candidate with ties to the extremist group the Oath Keepers, who was at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Democrats, current and former election officials and democracy experts made it clear leading up to the election that Finchem winning this down-ballot race could lead the state down a dark path.

“Democracy as we know it may not survive in Arizona,” former President Barack Obama warned during a pre-election rally for the state’s Democratic slate.

The loss of the Republican in the Michigan secretary of state race is the latest in a series of election losses for the party in competitive states.

Finchem criticized the state’s election administration as counting continued on past Election Day, and alluded to some sort of conspiracy involving Fontes.

“SharpieGate,” a vote-counting conspiracies, flourished after the end of Fontes’ term as county recorder.

“We’re going to take off the gloves,” Fontes said. “I’m not afraid to call out election denialists for the liars that they are. … And I’m also not afraid to let folks know that there are no two sides in this conflict. There’s only one side. The American side is there. The other side is not legit.

It was a huge reversal of fortune for the Democrats Friday night, after they had appeared to be in serious trouble just days before the election. The unfavorable economic climate, high gas prices, low approval ratings of President Joe Biden, and historical trends that often lead to steep losses in the first election cycle of a new president are just some of the problems candidates like Kelly and Cortez Masto were facing.

But this has been a complex cycle with many different crosscurrents affecting voter behavior, including the Supreme Court’s decision in June overturning abortion rights that angered many voters across the country. Republicans were also hamstrung by Trump’s decision to boost far-right candidates who were loyal to him, but often too extreme to appeal to the swing voters who decide elections. In the end, many independent voters and moderates rejected candidates who they felt were too extreme or aligned with Trump, as well as Democrats protecting incumbent candidates.

In Nevada, Republican Joe Lombardo was elected the next governor and defeated Steve Sisolak, who was a democrat. Lombardo, the popular Clark County sheriff, had reminded voters of their struggles during the Covid-19 pandemic, when unemployment in Nevada had peaked at nearly 30%. Though the economy has rebounded, Lombardo had argued that Sisolak’s policies had been too restrictive and had hampered the state’s economic recovery.

The Phoenix-area county board of elections has done a great job in reducing the slate a few years ago: Bill Gates apologizes to the master proposal

The elections department in the county has things in place to ensure every ballot is counted once, a spokeswoman told CNN.

“Because ballots are tabulated by batch, we are able to isolate the results from those specific locations and reconcile the total ballots against check-ins to ensure it matches. The spokeswoman said that this is a practice that has been in place for a long time.

Bill Gates, the chair of the Phoenix-area county board, rejected Masters proposal that the county wipe the slate clean and start counting over again. Gates said the county’s pace for counting ballots is in line with previous years.

Gates was asked on CNN about the accusations and he said he would like to see them communicated to him directly. “I’m a Republican. Three of my colleagues on the board are Republicans. Raise these issues with us and discuss them with us, as opposed to making these baseless claims,” he said.

“Let the count continue on and at the end, if they have issues they choose to take to court, they have every right to do that, and we’ll let that process play through,” Gates added.

Sen. Jim Aguilar vs. Jim Marchant: Why Voting in Nevada is a First Choice and the Most Dangerous in America

The Associated Press called a race and reported that a Democrat had been elected Secretary of State in Nevada.

Aguilar, an attorney who spent a number of years on the state’s Athletic Commission, defeated Republican Jim Marchant, who has long baselessly maintained the 2020 election was stolen.

A race for Nevada’s top voting official is essential for the future of democracy in the swing state, as painted by election experts nationally.

“Everything is based on truth and honesty and trust. And it’s my responsibility if I’m elected secretary of state to build that trust from scratch,” Aguilar told NPR on Tuesday, before voting ended. “My opponent has built everything he has on a false foundation of lies and disinformation.”

Marchant and President Trump both lost an election in 2020 because of a rigged election. “I’ve been working since Nov. 4, 2020, to expose what happened, and what I found out is horrifying.”

Marchant was a radical candidate for a secretary of state position. The coalition that he started said eliminating early voting was a key goal, and Aguilar told NPR Marchant was the most dangerous candidate in America.

In addition to saying that he wanted to severely restrict voting access in Nevada, Marchant has also led a push in the state for counties to hand-count ballots instead of using machines, even though research has shown that method to be less accurate.

A grateful thanks to the voters of Arizona for their part in the investigation of a turbulent and tight November 8 election: CNN’s Jeff Sessions meets with Jon Gabriel

Jon Gabriel is an opinion contributor to the Arizona Republic and editor in chief of Ricochet.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ExJon. His own views are expressed here. Read more opinion at CNN.

In contrast with the tight and turbulent Arizona election, Monday’s certification of the state’s voting results was uneventful. Boring, even. And most voters on both sides seem content with that.

Seated alongside the current governor, attorney general and chief justice, Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs officially certified the November 8 results at a small ceremony.

I would like to thank the voters of Arizona again. Our democratic institutions flourished because of your participation. The person said, “That’s right.” “Stay engaged and keep voting.”

The Arizona Supermajority Electoral Commission: Finding a Way to Counteract the Corrupt Claims of Gov. Doug Ducey

The bipartisan group of officials smiled for cameras, showing no sign of the extended post-election battle still wending its way through courtrooms. There were no protesters outside the venue, or anywhere else for that matter.

There were long lines at polling places, malfunctioning tabulation machines, and a last-minute lawsuit to extend voting hours. This was followed by a 13 day vote count in which there were razor thin margins in key races. The allegations of fraud and conspiracy have been there ever since.

Yet conspiracy theories, which made a big impact in 2020 in Arizona and elsewhere, are barely making a ripple today. Losing candidates may want to use fraud, but Republicans in Arizona now want proof. Two years of Trumpian “stop the steal” nonsense wore everyone down – even many of the true believers.

The outgoing Republican Gov. Doug Ducey swore his oath of office before he signed the documents. “It’s one that recognizes the votes cast by the citizens of our great state. Voting is a fundamental principle of our nation’s democracy. It is an effective method of ensuring Americans’ voices are heard.

Ducey, a staunch conservative, earned the ire of the “America First” wing of his party back in 2020. During that certification, he appears to have silenced a phone call from then-President Donald Trump, focusing instead on his legal duties as governor. It became a viral moment during that crazy December.

Cochise County, in the southeast corner of the state, tried to avoid certifying its results, despite their voters choosing the GOP by a large margin. Their Board of Supervisors finally gave in after a judge ordered them to do so.

But, outside of angry statements online and in conservative media, few seem interested in challenging the results. Lake’s team keeps trying to start a parade, but nobody’s following.

Lake is challenging the certification of the state’s election in Arizona Superior Court.

The suit was dismissed for standing in August, with US District Court Judge John Tuchi calling it full of “conjectural allegations of potential injuries.”

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors asked for legal sanctions due to false allegations about Arizona elections.

Tuchi decided last week to sanction Lake and Finchems legal team to deter future baseless suits. The final damages are to be announced in about a month.

One official who will oversee the next lawsuit was at Monday’s certification. Outgoing Republican Attorney General Mark has made it clear that he did not take one side or the other in any future court case.

Many Arizonans of all political persuasions still have doubts about our election processes, as we gather Monday to solidify the results from the fall’s elections.

“As attorney general, I have made it one of my office’s highest priorities to defend our election laws and advocate for changes when necessary,” he added. I will continue to do that when my term is over.

A lawsuit by Mypillow CEO Mike Lindell alleges that electronic error in a ballot-on-demand printer failed to certify the 2020 election

She was one of three former White House Press Secretaries who appeared with Mypillow CEO Mike Lindell on the “America Fest” conference.

Lake, who was challenging her loss in an election, was ordered by a judge to pay some legal fees but she was not sanctioned for filing the lawsuit.

Hobbs said the filing was “baseless” and that independent experts and local election officials had made clear that the election was a safe, secure and fair one.

Lake lost the election and questioned the integrity of the results. Arizona certified the election on Monday. It was not immediately clear what impact the challenge would have.

The former news anchor at Fox 10 in Phoenix was one of the most prominent candidates in the 2022 cycle as she and Hobbs vied to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Doug Ducey.

Last month, Ducey said that he would work to make the transition as smooth and seamless as possible.

A number of those cited as experts in the lawsuit and one of the lawyers who filed the case — Kurt Olsen — are part of a loose election-denial network led by Mike Lindell, the pillow company entrepreneur who has been pushing conspiracy theories about election machines since early 2021. Another Lake lawyer, Bryan Blehm, represented the contractor Cyber Ninjas during the partisan audit of Maricopa County’s 2020 election results last year and also represented supervisors in Cochise County this year in a lawsuit over an attempt to carry out a hand-counted audit plan.

Dan Barr, a lawyer for Mr. Hamadeh’s opponent, Kris Mayes, said the lawsuit was “based on speculation” and contained “no real facts.” He said he planned to file motions to dismiss it and move it to Maricopa County early next week.

Cochise County was represented in its failed attempt to deny certification of the election results by Daniel McCauley who is the one who filed that suit.

Lake was ordered to pay $33,40.50 in compensation for expert witness fees and to re-elect the person who will be sworn in on January 5.

Lake had to demonstrate that someone caused the ballot-on-demand printers to malfunction, causing enough votes to be lost and changing the result of the election.

“Every single witness before the Court disclaimed any personal knowledge of such misconduct. The court can’t accept speculation or conjecture in place of clear and convincing evidence.

Deputy Attorney General Mark Brnovich is seeking a new attorney general: a trial of a prosecutor who served in the Maricopa County prosecutor’s office

During his seven years on the Arizona public utilities commission, Mayes won two statewide elections. She left the Republican party in favor of the Democrats and pledged to “depoliticize” the office. Mayes will not enforce abortion restrictions in the state.

The two were running to succeed Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who finished a distant third in this year’s Republican primary to take on Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly.

The attorney general race was the last hope for a statewide victory for an endorsed candidate by former President Donald Trump, after Democratic victories in higher profile races for governor, US Senate and secretary of state.

Lake and Finchem unsuccessfully sued to overturn the outcome of their elections. The suit was filed in State Superior Court in Mohave County where it said there were problems with the election and vote counting. Mohave County Superior Court Judge Lee Jantzen ruled against Hamadeh last week.

Hamadeh, a former Army intelligence officer who worked in the Maricopa County prosecutor’s office, parroted Trump’s 2020 election lies during the campaign and said he would increase the size of the attorney general’s office’s election integrity unit.