Pima County Superior Court Judge James Erik Marner denied a request by attorneys for Congressional District 2 candidate Martha McSally to have a provisional ballots tossed on a technicality.
Judge Marner denied the emergency request made by McSally attorney Eric H. Spencer, from the law firm Snell & Wilmer, to withhold provisional ballots, that did not have poll workers’ signatures, from the final vote tally. Spencer is the same attorney used by McSally surrogates in their attempt to block a Republican challenger in the Republic Primary. The lawsuit was unsuccessful.
The lawsuit filed on Monday is still pending. The ballot processing will proceed.
McSally is losing her lead against incumbent Congressman Ron Barber.
“Martha McSally will do anything to win, even throwing out the votes of Southern Arizonans,” said Ashley Nash-Hahn, spokeswoman for Ron Barber for Congress. “Today was a win for democracy and a win for the people of Southern Arizona, who will make their voice heard at the ballot box – no matter how hard McSally tries to silence us.”
As the Barber campaign noted, this is not McSally’s first attempt to silence voters in Southern Arizona. In 2012, she tried to throw out ballots in Cochise County but failed to disenfranchise voters.
Ron Barber is leading in Pima County, with more than 9,000 ballots left to be counted countywide. As of 6:00 p.m. on Monday, McSally’s lead narrowed to a mere 179 votes.
According to one Pima County Republican elections watcher, the lack of signatures is fairly common and has not been an issue in past elections.
In Arizona Congressional races, an automatic recount occurs when, after results are verified, if the margin is less than or equal to 0.1 percent of votes cast. It appears as if there will be approximately 220,000 votes cast. If the difference between McSally and Barber is less than 220 votes, a recount will automatically occur.