Kari Lake's gubernatorial dreams are officially over Arizona judge certifies ... trends now
Republican Kari Lake's dreams of becoming Governor Arizona are over after a rural Arizona county has finally certified its midterm election results almost one month on from November's midterms.
It means current Secretary of State Katie Hobbs will now be confirmed as governor-elect.
Officials in Cochise County were forced to follow the orders of a judge who ruled that Republican supervisors broke the law when they refused to sign off on the vote count by this week's deadline.
Two Republicans on the county's three-member board of supervisors balked for weeks about certifying the election, even as the deadline passed on Monday.
They did not cite any problems with the election results. Rather, they say they weren't satisfied that the machines used to tabulate ballots were properly certified for use in elections, even though state and federal election officials have said they were.
Voters in Cochise County largely favored Lake, a prominent election denier who has refused to concede.
Secretary of State Katie Hobbs filed suit on Monday, as did a local voter and a group of retirees, asking a judge to force the supervisors to certify the election, a process formally known as a canvass.
Hobbs said she is required to hold the statewide certification on December 5 and by law can delay it only until December 8.
At the end of a hearing Thursday, Judge Casey McGinley ordered the supervisors to convene within 90 minutes and to approve the election canvass by the end of the day.
'I am not ashamed of anything I did,' said Supervisor Peggy Judd, one of the two Republicans who twice blocked certification. 'And today I feel I must, because of a court ruling and because of my own health and situations that are going on in our life, I feel like I must follow what the judge did today.'
The board's other Republican, Tom Crosby, skipped the meeting.
An Arizona judge has ordered Cochise County officials to certify the midterm election results. Hobbs filed suit Monday, as did a local voter and a group of retirees, arguing the supervisors are required by law certify the election, a process formally known as a canvass
Judge Casey McGinley has instructed the Cochise County Board of Supervisors to approve the results from the midterm elections after ignoring the deadline in state law. The Cochise County Board of Supervisors voted Thursday to follow the orders of a judge who ruled that they broke the law when they refused to sign off on the vote count by this week's deadline
Two hours earlier, Supervisor Ann English, the board's lone Democrat, urged the judge to order the board to immediately certify the election and not wait another day.
She said Crosby is trying to stage a 'smackdown between the secretary of state and the election deniers' at a meeting scheduled for Friday.
'I think it's a circus that doesn't need to have to happen,' English said. 'So I've had enough. I think the public's had enough. So I'm asking for a swift resolution of this if that's possible.'
The vote allows the statewide certification to go forward as scheduled on Monday.
Lake refused to accept the results of her Arizona gubernatorial race
Hobbs, a Democrat who was elected governor in November's election, had warned that she may have to certify statewide results without numbers from Cochise County if they aren't received in time, an outcome
