Tag: Election Results

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

The Latest Numbers from Arizona (Monday Edition)

 

As expected, the votes broke the GOP’s way in Monday’s vote counts, but not nearly enough to give Republicans the lead in the remaining races. Katie Hobbs has been projected to beat Kari Lake in the gubernatorial race. The AG and Superintendent of Public Instruction contests are still too close to call, but the latter, Tom Horne, has just taken the lead.

Onto the numbers…

Governor

The Latest Numbers from Arizona (Sunday Edition)

 

Yes, Arizona is still counting. The only ballots remaining are mail-in ballots that were dropped off on election day itself, along with a minuscule number of provisional ballots. As I noted last night, from today on, these are expected to go the GOP’s way.

Sunday night’s numbers were good for the GOP, but not as great as expected. The elephants beat the donkeys by about 10 percent in this latest batch; they would have liked to see a victory closer to 15 percent.

Over the next few days, each count will favor Republicans slightly more. Onto the numbers…

The Latest Numbers from Arizona (Saturday Edition)

 

As mentioned in last night’s post, Arizona has now counted all the mail-in ballots received before election day and the regular election-day ballots. As of tonight, we are counting mostly “late earlies” — those mail-in ballots dropped off at polling places on election day itself.

Traditionally these have swung far to the right; we’re talking 75% GOP vs. 25% Democrat. Completely lopsided. Tonight was when the count was supposed to flip into the red column.

Yep. All but guaranteed. Money in the bank. A done deal.

The Latest Numbers from Arizona

 

Arizona is famously slow in counting votes. And since the debacle of 2020, state election officials have changed nothing. (I wrote about it here for the Arizona Republic.)

Adding to the confusion is that votes are counted in a specific order. The ballots tabulated so far were mailed in or dropped off before election day, and the ballots filed on election day itself. These tend to support the Democratic candidates. The last returns from these two categories were announced Friday night.

As of Friday night, some in the last category are added to the mix: the so-called “late earlies.” These are mail-in ballots dropped off at polling places on election day. These tend to support the Republican candidates, and the ballots are slower to count since election officials must verify the signature on the outer envelope before opening and counting. Observers for Democrats and Republicans are present throughout this process.

Why Trump’s “Wait and See” Was Brilliant

 

trumpIf you hear someone hyperventilating over Trump’s reply on automatically accepting the election results, tell them to take a breath. First, remember, that 41 percent of people now think things are rigged. And most remember eight years of Democrats claiming that Bush was not in office legitimately, and Gore demanding a recount.

Contrary to received wisdom, Trump was brilliant to say he would wait to see if the election was rigged. Why? First, the media will pick this up, criticize it (which will make Trump supporters feel they are right to be concerned), and carry it into the ether for Mr. Trump … more earned media on his point.

Second and more important, saying he’d “wait and see” about the election outcome was the only answer that fit his entire raison d’être as a candidate: standing up to a corrupt system, uncowed, and fighting for fairness.