Abe Hamadeh is forging ahead, challenging his 280-vote loss to Democrat Kris Mayes in the attorney general’s race, the closest statewide race in Arizona’s history. He is challenging the trial court’s refusal to grant him a new trial after discovering that then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs withheld evidence from him before his trial regarding undervotes, votes not counted that resulted in narrowing Mayes’ lead. On Wednesday, he filed a reply to Mayes’ objections simultaneously with two amicus curiae briefs in support; one from Arizona legislative leadership and one from the America First Legal Foundation.
Hamadeh’s reply brief, primarily authored by Jennifer Wright, who previously served as the Arizona Attorney General’s Election Integrity Unit civil attorney, pointed out various contradictions in Mayes’ response. Mayes claimed that Hamadeh (pictured above) was “both too fast and too slow in attempting to obtain relief in this Court,” the brief stated. On the one hand, Mayes claimed that Hamadeh was causing “unreasonable delay,” yet she still asked for a regular appeals process, not a speedy one.
Instead, the brief argued that Hamadeh “faced a decidedly slow trial court that consistently stalled post-trial proceedings (ironically, after speeding through reasonable discovery).”
The trial court claimed that Hamadeh ran out of time during the discovery period to examine many ballots denying him the opportunity. Hamadeh said he believes as many as 76,339 undervotes statewide were not counted.
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