Arizona county canvass starts recount process in tight Democratic primary in US House race

PHOENIX -- Arizona’s most populous county certified its primary election results Monday, setting in motion a recount for the Democratic nomination in an open congressional district where 42 votes separate the top contenders.

The certification by the five-member Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is formally known as a canvass. The largely ministerial step was required before Secretary of State Adrian Fontes' office can conduct a recount in the 3rd Congressional District.

Former Phoenix City Council member Yassamin Ansari is leading over former state lawmaker Raquel Terán by less than .5 percentage points — the margin that triggers a recount under Arizona law.

Fontes confirmed the need for a recount and petitioned the Maricopa County Superior Court to authorize it, court records show. The secretary estimated the recount process will be completed by Aug. 19 if everything begins as planned on Tuesday.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Jennifer Ryan-Touhill officially ordered the recount, records show. The judge scheduled a hearing to announce the results on Aug. 20.

Whoever wins the Democratic bid will face Republican Jeff Zink in the November general election. The district leans Democrat and encompasses parts of Phoenix. The seat was left vacant when U.S. Rep Ruben Gallego decided to seek a U.S. Senate seat. He'll face Republican Kari Lake in November.

The canvass of election results had long been a dull, unceremonious act of government business in the Grand Canyon State. But since Joe Biden’s defeat of Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election in Arizona, election conspiracies have flourished and — at times — hindered the process.

This year, the certification of primary election results largely has gone smoothly across Arizona, with the majority of the state's 15 counties approving the results without issue. The state's canvass is scheduled later this week.

Some residents, though, continue to cast doubt over elections.

During the public comment session in Maricopa County, several people questioned the integrity of the primary election and opposed certification. One speaker accused the county of perpetuating fraud and asked why it doesn't conduct elections with paper ballots like Russia.

Vice Chairman Thomas Galvin responded with his own question about whether the woman has more confidence in Russian elections than elections in the U.S. She said she did.

Galvin then pushed back, his voice rising.

“Are you kidding me? That is Putin propaganda," he said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In neighboring Pinal County, the all-Republican board of supervisors certified the primary election results after Supervisor Kevin Cavanaugh alleged inconsistent voting patterns in his failed run for sheriff and in a handful of other countywide races.

Pinal County recorder Dana Lewis said every time that Cavanaugh professed an anomaly, his own statistics didn’t back it up.

Some of Cavanaugh's colleagues dismissed his claims of cheating as a “clown show." Chairman Mike Goodman banged his gavel nearly 30 times in a heated exchange with Cavanaugh, who ultimately voted to approve the results “under duress."

Cavanaugh earlier submitted a complaint to the attorney general's office, which confirmed receipt Monday but declined to say if it would investigate.

Elsewhere in Arizona, rural eastern Cochise County certified the primary results without drama Friday. The GOP stronghold on the U.S.-Mexico border was roiled after the midterm contests two years ago amid rampant election denialism and unsuccessful calls for a hand count of all ballots.

The board is made up of the two Republicans who demanded the hand count in 2020 and a Democrat who was not at Friday's meeting.

Officials and government websites in the rest of Arizona's counties confirmed canvasses there were successful, with a scattering of automatic recounts triggered. Those included county supervisor races separated by just three votes in La Paz and Yuma counties.

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Govindarao reported from Florence, Arizona. Associated Press reporters Anita Snow and Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix contributed to this report. Gabriel Sandoval is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.