Outgoing Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey mentioned Wednesday his Republican administration will guarantee an orderly transition to Democrat Katie Hobbs, his first public assertion on her victory.
Ducey met with Hobbs in his workplace greater than per week after her victory grew to become clear and days after the final ballots had been counted. Nevertheless, defeated Republican Kari Lake has not conceded and has labored for the reason that election to attract consideration to voters who say they had been affected by an issue with poll printers at some polling locations in Maricopa County.
"All of us have waited patiently for the democratic course of to play out," Ducey mentioned in a press release. "The folks of Arizona have spoken, their votes have been counted and we respect their resolution."
Ducey referred to as to congratulate Hobbs the day after The Related Press and different information shops referred to as the race, however he had not made a public assertion concerning the end result earlier than Wednesday.
Ducey was co-chairman of the Republican Governors Affiliation, which spent greater than $10 million on tv adverts attacking Hobbs, however he was not an enthusiastic supporter of Lake. He endorsed her rival within the GOP main and, although he endorsed your complete GOP ticket for the overall election, he didn't marketing campaign with Lake.
Hobbs, presently secretary of state, has shaped a transition workforce that's vetting potential workers and making ready for her to develop into the primary Democrat to carry the state's prime workplace since Janet Napolitano stepped right down to be U.S. Homeland Safety secretary after the 2008 election.
The Ducey-Hobbs assembly got here a day after the Republican Nationwide Committee and the GOP candidate for Arizona lawyer basic, Abraham Hamadeh, filed an election problem in his race, which is slated for an computerized recount with Hamadeh trailing by 510 votes.
That problem, filed in Maricopa County Superior Court docket, alleges quite a lot of issues affected the result of the extraordinarily tight race. It says some ballots had been counted that ought to not have been whereas others had been rejected when they need to have been counted. It alleges election employees made errors in duplicating ballots that might not be learn by digital tabulators and in figuring out the intent of voters when ballots had been ambiguous.
The swimsuit additionally claims some voters in Maricopa County had been denied a chance to vote due to a broadly publicized downside at some vote facilities the place printers produced ballots with markings that had been too gentle to be learn by on-site tabulators. Some voters experiencing issues left with out voting and did not try with ballot employees, in order that they had been unable to vote elsewhere as a result of the county's laptop system exhibits them as voting.
The swimsuit says Hamadeh and the RNC are usually not "alleging any fraud, manipulation or different intentional wrongdoing that might impugn the outcomes of the November 8, 2022 basic election."
"The voters of Arizona demand solutions and deserve transparency concerning the gross incompetence and mismanagement of the Basic Election by sure election officers," Hamadeh mentioned in a press release.
Democrat Kris Mayes will ask a choose to dismiss Hamadeh's criticism, Mayes lawyer Dan Barr mentioned.
"Abe Hamadeh's criticism is devoid of precise details," Barr mentioned in a press release. "It doesn't plausibly allege that errors within the administration of the election truly occurred, and in the event that they did happen, that they'd have made any distinction within the end result."
Election Day votes went overwhelmingly for Republicans, however Democrats dominated mail ballots.
Maricopa County officers have acknowledged that some voters had been inconvenienced by points with printers, which had been resolved within the early afternoon of Election Day. Board of Supervisors Chairman Invoice Gates has mentioned the issues had been made worse by distinguished Republicans who led their supporters to worry ballots wouldn't be counted.