Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes recently faced sharp criticism from her past rival, Republican Abe Hamadeh, for her stance against local election officials regarding the manual counting of ballots.
Over the recent weekend, Mayes sent a warning letter to the supervisors of Mohave County, suggesting the possibility of significant legal actions if they proceeded with their plan to manually count ballots in the 2024 elections.
In her letter, Mayes highlighted, “I understand that tomorrow’s vote will decide whether to instruct the Mohave County Elections Department to manually count the 2024 election ballots instead of using automated tabulating machines.”
She emphasized that a vote in favor of manual counting would be directing the Elections Department to breach legal boundaries.
Mayes also mentioned hearing about the county receiving “misleading legal advice from questionable sources,” though she did not specify who these sources were.
Hamadeh, who narrowly lost the 2022 election to Mayes, responded strongly on X, and later expanded on his remarks in a statement to Newsmax.
“Kris Mayes’ attempt to obstruct the manual ballot counting in Mohave County is a clear indication of a flawed legal system aimed at meddling in elections and concealing her own questionable victory,” Hamadeh stated.
Hamadeh accused certain political elements of undermining the justice system’s integrity due to their inability to secure electoral victories. He labeled the misuse of legal power as dangerous, misguided, and harmful.
Still contesting his 280-vote defeat to Mayes, Hamadeh has filed a new lawsuit, as reported by NPR’s KJZZ, claiming that the disenfranchisement of enough voters could have altered the election outcome.
His previous legal challenge concerning the 2022 election was unsuccessful, and his subsequent complaint against the judge overseeing the case was dismissed, as noted by the Arizona Capitol Times.
Currently, Hamadeh is in the running for Arizona’s eighth United States congressional district in a Republican primary, aiming to replace Rep. Debbie Lesko, according to Ballotpedia. One of his competitors in the primary is Blake Masters, with whom he shared the state’s Republican ticket two years prior.
Given the district’s strong Republican leaning, the primary winner is expected to have a high likelihood of securing a seat in the House of Representatives.
