Abraham Hamadeh received’t be granted a
third strive at overturning his 2022 loss, after a Mohave County decide
dominated that he lacks each the proof and authorized foundation to take action. 

Hamadeh, the Republican nominee for
legal professional normal, narrowly didn’t seize the workplace, dropping by a
mere 280 votes. Spurred by conservative outrage over Election Day points
in Maricopa County, Hamadeh instantly went to courtroom to contest the
race, claiming his loss was the results of election misconduct and
erroneously rejected ballots. His first problem was thrown out
for violating the timelines governing election contests and a second
try filed shortly after, which did go to trial, was finally rejected for failing to fulfill the burden of proof.

When the automated statewide recount
of his race recognized discrepancies that shrank Democrat Kris Mayes’
lead over Hamadeh — up till then regarded as 511 votes — the
Republican candidate launched a 3rd problem,
arguing that the brand new data warranted one other trial. The huge
majority of the votes that narrowed the competition got here from Pinal County,
the place elections officers found a whole lot of ballots that had been mistakenly not counted after the election.

Mohave County Superior Courtroom Choose Lee Jantzen, nonetheless, disagreed. On Friday, Jantzen issued a brief dismissal of Hamadeh’s request for a brand new trial. On Monday he clarified his reasoning.

Time and poll inspection constraints disqualify request

Election contests, Jantzen mentioned, are
by nature swiftly handled, and the legal guidelines governing them don’t permit
for drawn out deliberation. State legislation mandates that lawsuits difficult
the end result of an election be filed inside 5 days of the statewide
canvass, {that a} trial should start no later than 15 days afterward and
that the decide is directed to decide instantly — all of which
occurred throughout Hamadeh’s second lawsuit. 

Jantzen additionally rejected Hamadeh’s request to examine extra ballots to make his case. At a pre-trial listening to in Could,
attorneys for Hamadeh argued that greater than 1,000 provisional ballots
had been incorrectly thrown out by Maricopa County election officers,
together with a whole lot of votes belonging to residents whose voter
registrations had been erroneously filed in a distinct county as a consequence of
alleged points with ServiceArizona, the Arizona Division of
Transportation’s self-service web site, and Arizona’s voter registration
database. 

No proof was provided, nonetheless, and
attorneys lobbied for permission to seek for proof through extra poll
inspections. Such permission, Jantzen mentioned, could be out of line with
what state legislation permits, particularly after a restricted inspection was granted
throughout Hamadeh’s second problem, leading to no passable proof
of his claims. 

“Plaintiff was alleging points with
provisional ballots from the opening of this case however offered no
important proof of particular issues on the trial on the deserves,”
Jantzen wrote. “The Plaintiff is now requesting further discovery to
examine if an issue exists with provisional ballots. There may be solely
restricted discovery allowed in elections contests.” 

No new data means no new trial 

The one different avenue for
greenlighting a brand new trial could be below the auspices of a procedural
rule, however Jantzen mentioned Hamadeh’s go well with doesn’t meet that commonplace,
both. Underneath the Arizona Rule of Civil Process 59, a brand new trial may be
awarded if, amongst different causes, new data got here to gentle that was
obtainable on the time of the earlier trial however couldn’t be acquired
by way of due diligence and would have made a distinction within the election’s
end result. 

Hamadeh’s third problem relied
closely on Rule 59, arguing that the discrepancies recognized throughout the
statewide recount, coupled with an inventory of provisional voters requested
from Maricopa County that was delivered after the December trial,
warranted a second trial. 

Attorneys for Mayes rebutted, saying
that the general public data request filed in Maricopa County was submitted
late, and Hamadeh’s marketing campaign knew since at the least November 2022, throughout
his first problem, that they’d want extra data on points with
provisional ballots to bolster their arguments. Jantzen appeared to
agree with that evaluation. 

“The proof of potential issues
with provisional ballots and folks with a number of addresses that was
proffered on the time of oral argument was data that was
discoverable in November and December with ample diligence,” he
wrote.

Jantzen rejected Hamadeh’s argument
that the discrepancy present in Pinal County essentially meant
discrepancies in different counties. The identical recount that recognized the
drawback in Pinal County rectified the ultimate tally and didn’t establish
points wherever else. The ultimate depend nonetheless affirmed Mayes’ win.

“The report displays these errors
had been corrected within the recount and people 63 votes had been counted,” Jantzen
wrote. “(Hamadeh) speculates that this error was repeated in different
counties however has no proof.” 

Enchantment on the horizon

Regardless of capturing down the request, Jantzen left the door open for an attraction to the Arizona Supreme Courtroom. 

“The Plaintiff can attraction the
resolution made on this Courtroom…however a brand new trial with prolonged discovery is
not obtainable below the street map laid out by the Legislature,” he
wrote. 

In a statement released on social media
shortly after Jantzen’s dismissal was introduced final week, Hamadeh
reiterated his perception that he’s the lawful winner of the legal professional
normal’s race. 

“The competition was not as shut because it
stands now. If all authorized votes are counted, I win this race for legal professional
normal,” he wrote. 

And on Monday, Hamadeh vowed to proceed his authorized battle. 

“The courtroom’s ruling is an invite to an attraction, and we’ll do exactly that,” he tweeted.