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The Final Numbers from Arizona (13 Days After Election Edition)
You guys: On Monday, November 21, all counties in the state of Arizona finally finished counting the Election Day votes. And it only took them 13 days. In fact, two of the contests were so close that automatic recounts were triggered. Those won’t begin until after December 5 … another 14 days away.
Want to restore trust in the process, Arizona? Reform the bad election laws. For the last time, let’s go to the big board…
Governor
| Candidate | Percentage | Vote Total |
|---|---|---|
| Kari Lake (R) | 49.7% | 1,270,774 |
| √ Katie Hobbs (D) | 50.3% | 1,287,890 |
U.S. Senator (race called for Sen. Kelly, Friday, Nov. 11)
| Candidate | Percentage | Vote Total |
|---|---|---|
| Blake Masters (R) | 46.5% | 1,190,643 |
| √ Mark Kelly (D) | 51.4% | 1,315,771 |
Secretary of State (race called for Adrian Fontes, Friday, Nov. 11)
| Candidate | Percentage | Vote Total |
|---|---|---|
| Mark Finchem (R) | 47.6% | 1,200,411 |
| √ Adrian Fontes (D) | 52.4% | 1,320,618 |
Attorney General
| Candidate | Percentage | Vote Total |
|---|---|---|
| Abe Hamadeh (R) | 50.0% | 1,254,102 |
| * Kris Mayes (D) | 50.0% | 1,254,612 |
Treasurer (race called for Kimberly Yee, Saturday, Nov. 12)
| Candidate | Percentage | Vote Total |
|---|---|---|
| √ Kimberly Yee (R) | 55.7% | 1,390,135 |
| Martin Quezada (D) | 44.3% | 1,107,036 |
Superintendent of Public Instruction
| Candidate | Percentage | Vote Total |
|---|---|---|
| * Tom Horne (R) | 50.2% | 1,255,977 |
| Kathy Hoffman (D) | 49.8% | 1,247,009 |
None of the percentages shifted over the past week. Of course, these numbers are unofficial until certified on December 5. But we’re not out of the weeds yet!
An automatic recount is triggered when opposing candidates finish within 0.5 percent of the total votes. This applies to two races: Attorney General and Superintendent of Public Instruction. In the first, Kris Mayes (D) defeated Abe Hamadeh (R) by a mere 510 votes. In the second, Tom Horne (R) defeated incumbent Kathy Hoffman (D) by 8,968 votes.
Also, Arizona’s current Attorney General, Mark Brnovich (R), has demanded that Maricopa County officials provide a report on the tabulation machine problems on Election Day. By November 28, the county must detail the specific problems related to the printers at each polling location and how poll workers were trained.
Please note that your humble author sat next to Mark Brnovich in government class at Shadow Mountain High School. We would pass National Review issues back and forth, and drive our liberal teacher crazy with our anti-communist tirades. At the time, I worked as a highly acclaimed bag boy at Safeway. One afternoon, after we annoyed the teacher in class, he came into the store and bought a 12-pack of Meister Brau (a very, very cheap beer). After that, we called him “Meister Brau”; he didn’t like that either.
P.S. I worked with AG candidate Hamadeh at the Goldwater Institute, and AG candidate Mayes was my editor at Arizona State’s student newspaper. Knowing me is apparently a job requirement.
Previous Arizona Election Posts:
Published in Elections
In Michigan the voters passed a constitutional amendment on election procedures that, among other things, makes ballots from military personnel valid as long as they are postmarked by election day. It seems to me that one consequence is that the outcome of Michigan elections will not be known until 4-6 weeks after election day, allowing time for all (?) military ballots to arrive from around the world. It is already a state law that military ballots must be mailed out at least 45 days prior to the election, presumably allowing sufficient time for the servicemembers to vote and mail them back in time to be received by election day. Apparently that wasn’t considered sufficient.
That sounds crazy. I voted once for President when I was in the Navy. About 90 days after the election, I was sent a notification that my ballot was never counted and they offered no explanation.
I’m going to assume that the difference between Kimberly Yee’s vote total and Kari Lake’s is not cross over Democrats but Republicans and Independents who chose to vote for some but not all candidates on the ballot. That’s about 120,000 votes. furthermore there are more total votes for the Governor’s race than the Treasurer’s race.
As a conservative Independent I have no problem not voting in some races and voting in others. I have to believe I’m not alone. do you think Kimberly Yee “energized” the Trump voters as much as Kari Lake did? doubtful. And yet she got more votes than Ms. Lake. Kimberly Yee is not a squish, is not a RINO.
there’s a clear lesson in these numbers. Does the Republican Party of Arizona understand that lesson.
PS Telling “McCain Republicans” to “get the hell out” is not a smart late campaign strategy. Do you think in hindsight she wouldn’t have minded having, say 20,000, of those McCain Republicans voting for her?
Arizona is absolutely crooked.
I totally think she made a mistake saying that. I don’t know what happened behind the scenes, but everyone should have come together and rallied around those who were nominated. I have a feeling that it was not just one person who dropped something into the proverbial punchbowl – it was likely many people who didn’t want to work together. Real shame.
Funny thought I just had – the whole, “candidates matter” argument. Let’s say “establishment-approved” candidates are nominated for the whole slate of AZ offices, and they also lose by equal amount of votes, with Yee still winning by about 120,000… what would people say?
That MAGA tanked the AZ candidates? Or .. did candidates matter – just the other way?
We all know the framing would be drastically different than, “candidates matter” – why?
Who am I kidding! Haha. They would have won because all the MAGA/Amer1st/Tea Party folks would have voted the party line. It would seem that only one sub-set of the national GOP is interested in losing elections.
If that is true, then … who’s the actual outlier, the ones *actually* at fault for losing?
Frankly, another John McCain wouldn’t have been helpful, so it doesn’t much matter. John McCain and that witch in Alaska do more harm than good.
I hope Chewbacca pulls it out in Alaska, but I’m pretty sure Alaska is pretty corrupt too.
How the mighty have fallen. He once was a proud Safeway bag boy and now he lurks as the so called editor of a dubious website of ill repute.
I would be embarrassed to be a citizen of Arizona.
Georgia makes national News of how bad our voting system is. We got done ages ago.
Never trumpers demand that we rally around their candidates while refusing devote for others.
There are total and utter hypocrites.
It’s not “ another John McCain” it’s voters who would vote for John McCain
another PS for folks outside if AZ Kimberly Yee is pretty conservative.
Look. I come from a country where we had our election done in 2 hours.
2 HOURS!!!!
I dont care that I am violating the COC.
This election is [REDACTED].
You should all be embarrassed.
And demand better. Stop your petty fighting over some idiot who died a few years ago.
There is no reason that election in the 21st century take a 2 weeks to decide. Anyone who thinks they should is a CORRUPT IDIOT.
The Arizona GOP has been in a brutal civil war since the late ’90s. The McCain Machine led the party and treated the conservative grassroots (which became Tea Party, and later MAGA) like garbage for two decades. When he passed away, the insurgents took over the party and revenged themselves on every politico from the Machine. They’ve stayed in punishment mode for four years now, getting worse each year.
It’s a very, very bitter fight. Who knows where the Arizona GOP goes from here.
Gave a speech to 1,000 AZ Republicans Friday and said the same. The room got quiet. This is why neither side of the state GOP civil war likes me much. :)
It’s not much of a mystery. Look at states that have gone down the same road. The Arizona GOP goes to oblivion from here. There may be time to recover, or it may be a long decline. Or, it may be over from here on out. Sometimes you don’t get a second chance. Either way, the outsiders have had enough and we know that the insiders will destroy us all if the alternative is winning while losing their grift and graft.
Huzzah!
Unlike some “Republicans ” in AZ i always vote for the GOP nominee.
Lots of MAGA people in GA voted for Raffensburger and Kemp. Trust me, neither have been well liked, but they did the votes to win for the GOP. I know Never Trumpers in GA who refused to vote for Walker. Over and over, the old guard wants to take its ball and go home.
This makes me happy.
Also Meister Brau is a featured beverage in the classic thrash metal song “Beer Bong”, by Tucson-based Atrophy (back in the day, Jon. Like late 1980s day).
Thanks for the peek behind the curtain. When people, like myself, wonder why a group would purposefully sabotage their own party for what seem like petty hypocritical reasons it helps to remember that this is, like Jon is pointing out, about power.
Power and money. No prob. The fight will end with one group “winning” or a MAD like ending. Passion, turnout, and winning will ensure who the new regime elites will be for AZ. I know who I am rooting for, and looks like the election was a small advance in replacing the sclerotic old guard. Could’ve been a full replacement – but Gollum grips his little ring tightly as he falls into the fire.
Texas . . .
Absolutely not. Please prove or withdraw your slander.
The County Recorders and Boards of Supervisors in the 4 largest voting counties, Maricopa, Pinal, Yavapai, and Mohave are all Republicans. Only Pima County is Democrat.
The fact of the matter is that non-Trump Statewide candidate Kimberly Yee won a 55.7% landslide victory. She is Pro-Life. She has a NRA “A” rating. She is for low taxes and less regulation. She seconded Trump’s nomination in 2020 at the Convention. She was 100% pro=Trump, except she did not promote the Trump Big Lie that he won the 2020 election. She won by a landslide; all of the four statewide Trump Endorsed Candidates lost.
The moral of the story. Conservatism won big in Arizona, but “Biden Election Deniers” lost.
I am proud to be an Arizonan. When given the opportunity, we gave a landslide victory to a Pro-Life, NRA Rated “A” candidate who seconded Trump’s nomination at the 2020 Convention, and is for Lower Taxes and Less Regulation. The only place Kimberly Yee differed with Trump is that she is not a “Biden Election Denier.” Otherwise she is a 100% conservative.
The statewide Republicans who lost were all “Biden Election Deniers.” Arizonans rejected that b.s., as has former A.G. William Barr.
Never Trumpers cannot get one of our candidates elected. But we can veto “Biden Election Deniers.” A successful 2024 nominee will be someone who supported Trump in 2016 and 2020, but refused to go along with the Trump “Big Lie.”
Pro-Life and NRA “A” rating. Lower taxes. Less regulation. Refuses to invest state money in ESG funds. 100% conservative, just not a “Biden Election Denier.”
Kimberly Yee for Governor in 2026!
No, no, no. The reason why it takes so long in Arizona is that the Republican Legislature did not enact a cut-off for mail-in ballots on the Saturday before the election. We had a flood of people who came in on Election Day and “dropped off” their ballots at any county polling place. Those “dropped off” ballots took a lot of time to process. Each signature had to be verified by a panel of one Republican and one Democrat. Then the ballots were married up with their precincts. They had had to be opened and unfolded. That is a policy issue. We have a Republican Legislature. They can change this policy.
With only one exception, I voted for every Republican on the ballot except those who were “Biden Election Deniers.” Every Republican I voted for won.
The answer is simple. Be as conservative as you like, just don’t be a “Biden Election Denier.” Or in the future, a “Hobbs/Lake Election Denier.”
Yeah, that’s not corrupt at all, now is it? Sheesh.
Gary, I’m not taking anything back.
In 2024, when there is another republican administration – could consent decrees be used to force counties to better manage elections?
But you are not proving your point either.