On Friday, Pima County Superior Court judge Kyle Bryson announced the results of the General Election recount for the office of Pima County Sheriff, which was won by Democrat incumbent Chris Nanos.
This week, two Arizona state lawmakers, Representatives Teresa Martinez and Rachel Jones, called for an investigation into Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cazares-Kelly’s handling of the 2024 General Election.
The lawmakers sent a letter last week to Attorney General Kris Mayes requesting an immediate investigation following reports of what they say are “significant and highly concerning issues” involving the Pima County Recorder’s actions leading up to and during the 2024 General Election.
The recount found that Nanos received 243,891 votes while Republican Heather Lappin received 243,410, a difference of 481 votes.
Nanos received 31 more votes in the recount. Lappin gained 45 votes.
The change in votes cast for the candidates is a result of adjudication. Pima County uses electronic adjudication to determine voter intent of ballots identified by the tabulator as an overvote, undervote or unclear mark.
Those ballots then go to a two-person adjudication board – one Democrat, one Republican – and their decision on voter intent is reviewed and confirmed by another two-person bipartisan board. The boards’ adjudications during the recount resulted in a net increase of four ballots previously found to be overvoted, a net increase of 71 ballots previously considered undervoted, and a net increase of one write-in vote, for a total of 76 more votes cast.
Reasons for adjudication include write-ins, overvotes (voter selected more than the allowed number of choices), and improperly marked ballots. If, for example, a voter circled a bubble instead of filling it in, the bipartisan adjudication team will jointly deem the voter intended to vote for the circled candidate and will count the vote accordingly.
“It is not uncommon to see changes in adjudicated ballots during a recount,” said Pima County Elections Director Constance Hargrove. “The bipartisan boards adjudicating the ballots during a recount may not be the same boards who originally made the determination. The adjudication boards determinations are independent and final as intended by the statute.”