Republican congressional candidate Andy Tobin.Andy Tobin and Gary Kiehne must await the counting of as many as 20,000 votes before they know which of them is the Republican Party nominee in Arizona's 1st Congressional District.
State elections officials said Wednesday that more than 15,000 early ballots and about 5,000 provisional ballots were yet to be counted in the district, which sprawls from northern Pima County to Utah and along the New Mexico state line.
Tobin, speaker of the state House of Representatives, led Kiehne, a rancher and developer from Eagar in the White Mountains, by 381 votes in the latest count from the state elections office. Adam Kwasman, a state representative from Oro Valley, was a distant third, more than 3,100 votes behind Tobin.
Under state law, the counties in which the early and provisional votes remain must be counted by the end of the day Sept. 3. The state will certify the results five days later.
A provisional ballot is one that was questioned at the polling place or by the county elections office because of a discrepancy in name, signature on an early ballot or other issue.
The Republican winner will face Democratic incumbent Ann Kirkpatrick in the November general election.
The 1st Congressional District covers all of Apache, Navajo, Coconino, Gila, Graham and Greenlee counties and parts of Mohave, Yavapai, Pinal, Pima and Maricopa counties.
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