Arizona GOP Chair Says Election 'Far From Over' as Recount Continues
Arizona GOP's Chairperson Dr. Kelli Ward encouraged supporters of President Donald Trump to stay on course as she noted that the election is "far from over."
Ward shared an update of election results in Arizona as she urged optimism from Trump's supporters.
She told Arizona that she is personally working with her team, together with the Trump campaign, to ensure that the election results in the state "have integrity," reported One America News Network.
"Do not lose heart. Do not allow the negativity and the fake news to bring you down," she said in a video address Monday.
She also reiterated that the U.S. still doesn't have a presidential election, contrary to world leaders congratulating Democrat Joe Biden.
Ward said the country still has to wait for certified election results, which officially makes a president-elect.
Arizona Counters Election Fraud '100 Percent'
The chairwoman also said in her statement that the GOP is fighting against election fraud, vowing that the state is "in this fight 100 percent."
She explained that the state is now going through a canvassing phase for the election, meaning they're making sure votes are cast and counted as voters intended.
Read also: Can Trump Win Through Legal Challenge of Election Verdict?
Projections showed Biden clinching some key battleground states, prompting Trump to file a slew of lawsuits.
According to The Sun, one of the lawsuits was dismissed by Superior Court Judge Daniel Kiley. It was filed last week in Maricopa County.
Several lawmakers are also pushing the county's Board of Supervisors to review all of its ballots in the county.
But an attorney for Maricopa County said this attempt to find more votes for the president just can't be done, said a KAWC report.
Party attorney demanded for a random hand-count audit at 2% of the more than 700 precincts, and it was finished a week ago.
The suit argued that Maricopa has to conduct a hand count by precinct instead of voting center, as outlined in the state's law.
However, Superior Court Judge John Hannah said his county doesn't require voters to cast in their own precincts.
Read also: Trump Campaign Files Lawsuit in Arizona Alleging Rejection of In-Person Votes
"We didn't do it that way," said Deputy County Attorney Joseph LaRue. Instead, the county's voters just had to go to any of the approximately 175 voting centers.
He also pointed out that their ballots are not segregated per precinct, but are in bags separated by vote centers.
"The purpose of the hand-count audit is to determine if the vote was accurate and, if it wasn't, to take other remedial steps prior to the canvass," LaRue said. "And so, if the audit takes place after the canvass, I'm not sure what the point would be.'"
Federal law requires state recounts and court challenges to be finished by December 8. Six days later, the 11 electors from the state of Arizona pledge to the winning candidate.
As for the recount, election workers are required to take some ballots from some precincts to count by hand and compare the numbers with what the voting machines tallied.
There is a certain margin where the audit will be considered reliable. But if one or more races step outside that margin, then the process will be repeated at even larger batches.