In the Press

Certifying the county’s elections are important for two reasons: As Hobbs’ lawsuit notes, several recounts can’t be performed, including in the attorney general’s race, until the statewide canvass is completed.

But certifying the results is also important because if the county still refuses to do so, Hobbs’ lawyers said in their lawsuit that the top elections official would be required to perform the statewide canvass without Cochise County’s votes, which could affect the election results in Arizona’s 6th Congressional District.

“This should be a slam-dunk case,” said Jared Davidson, an attorney with Protect Democracy.

“The board’s duties to certify are paradigmatic examples of a nondiscretionary duty, and the special action procedure is designed specifically to seek relief from government officials to act in a way where statutes give them no discretion whatsoever,” he continued. “So I fully expect that lawsuit to be successful because there can really be no serious question that what the board is doing here is an abject failure to abide by their explicit statutory duties.”

“The board is sort of turning this ministerial act into an act of political theater,” said Jared Davidson, an attorney with Protect Democracy. “They should follow the will of the voters of Cochise County and certify the results, that’s their duty. Refusing to certify the results will nullify or effectively disenfranchise those voters, the majority of whom are Republican.”

“If you were a voter and you were in the act of just voting lawfully … you had to be treated kind of like a paparazzi with this like army of photograph photographers aimed at you,” said Orion Danjuma, an attorney at Protect Democracy, a voting rights group that challenged the Arizona drop box monitors in court.