Listen:
The Pima County Board of Supervisors denied U.S. Rep. Ron Barber's request Tuesday to get some previously-disqualified votes counted in Arizona's Congressional District 2 election.
The Tucson Democrat lost his seat to Republican Martha McSally by 161 votes. But a recount will be taking place next month, as required by state law because the difference was less than 200 votes.
Every county must certify its election results in an official canvass, and Barber's campaign lawyer asked the board to delay its canvass today.
Election workers made mistakes that caused 132 votes in Pima County to be rejected, Barber's lawyer Kevin Hamilton said. Those voters did nothing wrong, Hamilton said, when he asked the county board to count the ballots. They were referred to the wrong polling places, or advised to vote provisionally when they should not have been, he said.
The board denied his request by approving the canvass on a 4-1 vote.
The same thing happened in Cochise County, he said.
"We will be delivering a similar letter to Cochise County and asking Cochise County to include those rejected ballots as well," he said. Hamilton did not provide the number of rejected ballots he hopes to contest in that county.
He said he plans to ask the state to count the votes he did not get Pima County to include in today's canvass, Hamilton said.
Hamilton did not speculate on what legal steps the Barber campaign may take if the Pima County and Cochise County votes in question are not counted in the state’s canvass next month.
The recount may change the numbers slightly, but not significantly, said Brad Nelson, Pima County's elections director.
"I would imagine, when we recount the ballots, and when Cochise recounts the ballots, that there might be a little bit of variance in there," Nelson said. "I can’t see, and have never experienced any situation where the outcome of the election has differed.”
Hamilton said accurate vote counting is a principle of American politics.
"Ron Barber is committed to the voters of Southern Arizona and he’s going to make sure that every registered voter’s vote counts. That I can promise you,” Hamilton said.
By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.