Arizona’s 2022 AG Race: Key Details on Next Week’s Court Hearing.

Former Arizona Attorney General Candidate and RNC Fight for Election Integrity

Oral Arguments for New Trial to be Heard on May 16

Former Arizona attorney general candidate Abraham Hamadeh and the Republican National Committee (RNC) are fighting for election integrity in last year’s attorney general election. On May 16, the Mohave County Superior Court will hear oral arguments on their motion for a new trial. Hamadeh and the RNC argue that not all legal votes have been counted in the former’s race against now-Democrat Attorney General Kris Mayes and that once they are, the results will show Hamadeh as the legitimate winner.

“I am trying to restore not just election integrity, [but also the belief] that there’s a justice system that can remedy bad [elections],” Hamadeh told The Federalist.

Arizona’s Midterm Election Chaos

Unlike most states that witnessed efficient election administration during the 2022 midterms, Arizona was marred by chaos and incompetence. In Maricopa County, which is home to almost 62 percent of Arizona’s 7.2 million people, poll workers at roughly 30 percent of the county’s voting centers reported that their respective vote tabulation machines were rejecting voters’ ballots, resulting in long wait times and widespread confusion among voters and election workers alike.

After the election, Hamadeh and the RNC filed a lawsuit alleging numerous counts of improper activity by Arizona election officials, including “wrongful disqualification of provisional and early ballots,” “exclusion of provisional voters,” and “inaccurate ballot duplications.”

What Hamadeh and the RNC Claim

At the core of Hamadeh and the RNC’s motion for retrial is the assertion that since the certification of the attorney general race, “[t]here is new and compelling information that not all legal votes were counted.” The legal filing highlights the state’s election recount, specifically the uncounted and miscounted votes discovered in Pinal County.

Hamadeh and the RNC are also contesting issues related to provisional ballots, which are used to record votes when it remains uncertain whether a person is eligible to vote. According to Hamadeh’s legal team, hundreds of voters with a voting history had their provisional ballots rejected as being not registered.

The Road Ahead

While the outcome of Hamadeh’s election challenge remains uncertain, it wouldn’t be unprecedented for a court to determine a different winner months after an election. When asked about his prospects in Arizona’s judicial system, Hamadeh expressed optimism that his team will eventually emerge victorious and blasted Democrats for their hypocrisy when it comes to their mantra of “count every vote.”

“In our lawsuit, we’re taking the position of Democrats, which is ‘count every vote’ and talking about voter disenfranchisement, and the Democrats are the ones screaming about [how] every single vote was counted,” Hamadeh said. “We’re not alleging fraud in our case. … We’re simply saying that they need to count these legal votes, and I think for courts, it’s a lot easier to count votes than to try to remove votes. And that’s why I think we’re going to be a lot more successful because we are using the Democrat playbook.”

• Shawn Fleetwood is a Staff Writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington.
• He also serves as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review.
• Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood

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