Longtime Arizona Central columnist E. J. Montini could barely control his amusement on Tuesday after the two Republican supervisors tasked with certifying the 2022 election results refused to do so even though Republican Kari Lake was the recipient of 58.9 percent of the votes and two other Republicans hold huge voting advantages.
CNN reports that "by a 2-1 vote Monday morning, the Republican majority on the Cochise County Board of Supervisors pushed back certification until Friday, citing concerns about voting machines."
Furthermore, CNN notes that "Cochise's action could put at risk the votes of some 47,000 county residents and could inject chaos into the election if those votes go uncounted."
Montini reacted to this by pointing out that Gov-elect Katie Hobbs is now being forced to sue the district to do their jobs and certify the votes that give a boost to her opponent's overall vote total.
As Montini sees it, if the Cochise Country GOP supervisors are being forced by Hobbs to certify the Kari Lake-favoring votes because they think her election results in their district is fraudulent, then she must "stink" at cheating.
"Either the conspiracy theorists and election deniers are totally wrong about Gov.-elect and current Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, or she is really, really bad at cheating," he wrote before adding an exasperated, "I mean, come on. This is a gift, a freebie, a waist-high fastball served right down the middle of the plate just asking for Hobbs to knock it out of the park."
As he explained, "If Hobbs and her office chose not to follow the law and, essentially, look the other way, it would be a bonanza for Democrats, pennies from heaven," before elaborating, "Cochise County is heavily Republican. According to records on the county's website, Republican Juan Ciscomani received nearly 14,000 more votes than Democrat Kirsten Engle in their race for Arizona's 6th congressional district. Likewise, Republican Tom Horne received 9,000 more votes than Democrat Kathy Hoffman in the contest for Superintendent of Public Instruction."
"If the supervisors were to refuse to certify their election results and, as the law provides, "disenfranchise all of the voters in Cochise County", Democrats would have enough votes from the other 14 counties to win both of those races," he continued before urging Hobbs to call their bluff and hand her more Democratic support.
"Let the goofball Republican majority on the Cochise County board – who, ironically, squawk about non-existent voting irregularities – negate the votes of tens of thousands of their residents, the majority of them from their own party," he wrote before quipping, "There would be no easier way to 'steal' a couple of elections."
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