On Wednesday, Governor Doug Ducey met with Governor-elect Katie Hobbs. The two met in his office and shared photos via Twitter.
Today I congratulated Governor-elect Katie Hobbs on her victory in a hard-fought race and offered my full cooperation as she prepares to assume the leadership of the State of Arizona. pic.twitter.com/gkn9bbDlTF
— Doug Ducey (@DougDucey) November 23, 2022
“Today I congratulated Governor-elect Katie Hobbs on her victory in a hard-fought race and offered my full cooperation as she prepares to assume the leadership of the State of Arizona,” said Ducey in a press release. “My administration will work to make this transition as smooth and seamless as possible. Our duty is to ensure that Arizona’s 24th Governor and her team can hit the ground running and continue our state’s incredible momentum.”
“All of us have waited patiently for the democratic process to play out. The people of Arizona have spoken, their votes have been counted and we respect their decision,” continued the governor. “No matter who we voted for, all of us have a stake in Arizona’s success. Our future is bright and boundless. Let us never forget that as we begin this next chapter in our state’s history.”
While three races in the 2022 General Election are the subject of automatic recounts, the governor’s race is not among them due to the fact that Hobbs defeated Kari Lake by over 17,000 votes. Yet Lake has so far refused to concede and vows to take future legal action due to mismanagement of the election in Maricopa County.
The Attorney General’s race between Republican Abe Hamadeh and Democrat Kris Mayes is subject to a recount, with Mayes only leading by 510. Hamadeh filed for an injunction on Tuesday and was granted a hearing for Monday, November 28.
In his lawsuit, Hamadeh outlined the chaos and barriers to voting experienced by Election Day voters in Maricopa County. Unlike Lake, Hamadeh, an attorney, makes no allegations of malicious intent or fraud. Instead he denies “any fraud, manipulation or other intentional wrongdoing that would impugn the outcomes of the November 8, 2022 General Election,” but claims that the election was rife with “gross incompetence and mismanagement.”
“The election was, however, afflicted with certain errors and inaccuracies in the management of some polling place operations, and in the processing and tabulation of some ballots. The cumulative effect of these mistakes is material to the race for Arizona Attorney General, where the candidates are separated by just 510 votes out of more than 2.5 million ballots cast-a margin of two one-hundredths of one percent (0.02%),” argued Hamadeh’s attorneys.
Given the very narrow margin of victory between Mayes and Hamadeh, the higher percentage of Republicans voting on Election Day, and the widespread failures at polling site in Maricopa County, experts say it is easily conceivable that the Attorney General’s race was substantively affected.