Abe Hamadeh Asks Arizona Supreme Court for New Trial, Says Previous Trial Revealed Enough Uncounted Votes to Possibly Change Election

Abe Hamadeh

Abe Hamadeh filed a Petition for Special Action with the Arizona Supreme Court on Friday asking the court to consider providing him with a new trial in his election lawsuit contesting losing the attorney general’s race. Mohave County Superior Court Judge Lee F. Jantzen denied Abe Hamadeh’s request for a new trial in July, despite the fact Hamadeh discovered that then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs withheld evidence of undervotes in Pinal County, which led to Kris Mayes’ lead shrinking to only 280 votes over Hamadeh, making it the closest statewide race in Arizona history. Hamadeh believes up to 76,339 “undervotes” statewide were not counted in the election.

Hamadeh said in a statement provided to The Arizona Sun Times, “I stand by my commitment to keep fighting for the people of Arizona and protect their sacred right to vote. As a veteran, I took an oath to serve our country overseas, and I will continue to serve Arizona and our country. The evidence cannot be ignored — there are thousands of uncounted ballots. Although we have faced unusual roadblocks at the trial court, we are confident we will have our day in court to present the evidence and ensure that the will of the people is honored.”

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Judge Denies Abe Hamadeh’s Request for a New Trial, Says Only ‘Six Votes’ Would Have Been Different

Mohave County Superior Court Judge Lee F. Jantzen denied Abe Hamadeh’s request for a new trial in his election contest over the attorney general’s race on Friday, issuing his opinion with the reasoning on Monday. He said “the evidence showed that only about six votes difference would have been found after reviewing the numerous undercounted ballots.”

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Judge Hears Oral Arguments in Abe Hamadeh Election Contest Requesting a New Trial over 76,339 Uncounted Votes

Mohave Superior Court Judge Lee Jantzen heard oral arguments on Tuesday over whether Abe Hamadeh should receive a new trial in his election contest of the attorney general’s race. Jantzen had dismissed Hamadeh’s case after the initial trial on December 22, but Hamadeh discovered new evidence after the trial that then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs had withheld, which revealed that “undervotes” were discovered in Pinal County, votes that were erroneously not counted. After they were included, Kris Mayes’ lead over Hamadeh shrunk to only 280 votes, so Hamadeh asked the court for a new trial to consider as many as 76,339 votes that Hamadeh believes were not counted throughout the state.

In a statement released after the hearing, Hamadeh said, “I feel confident that we will prevail once all of the evidence is presented to Judge Jantzen. We have been careful to only make those claims that we believe we can prove and that will make our democratic process stronger. On a number of occasions, I was willing to accept the purported outcome of the results. However, after further inspection our team has discovered information about the mismanagement of the election, including the gross disenfranchisement of voters. I am compelled to see that no voter is disenfranchised because of my commitment to our Republic and the democratic process so many of my fellow veterans sacrificed their lives to protect.”

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Elon Musk Sets Off Tweetstorm About Rejected Ballots in Abe Hamadeh’s Race

Twitter owner and CEO Elon Musk weighed in on Abe Hamadeh’s election challenge Monday. Hamadeh is challenging election anomalies in the closest statewide race in history, the Arizona Attorney General’s race which he lost to Democrat Kris Mayes by 280 votes. Musk was responding to a tweet from Hamadeh about the large numbers of people who voted on Election Day last fall whose votes were not counted, and his response generated a flood of responses.

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After Abe Hamadeh Files New Pleading in Request for Retrial Alleging Hobbs Withheld Evidence, Judge Grants Oral Arguments

Mohave County Superior Court Judge Lee Jantzen scheduled oral arguments for May 16 on whether Abe Hamadeh should get a new trial.

Jantzen dismissed his complaint challenging his loss to Kris Mayes for Arizona Attorney General in December. Jantzen’s ruling came shortly after Hamadeh filed an additional pleading to bolster his request, which accused then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs of withholding evidence from him and cited new arguments due to the Arizona Supreme Court’s ruling in Kari Lake’s election contest.

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Arizona Election Attorney Says Trial Court Judge in Kari Lake’s Case Should Consider Recusing Himself from Hearing Case Again

The Arizona Supreme Court rejected part of the lower two courts’ rulings throwing out Kari Lake’s election contest, remanding it back to Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson for a new trial, but there are concerns Thompson will not provide a fair trial. An election attorney in Phoenix who prefers not to be identified due to fear of retaliation, told The Arizona Sun Times that due to the perception that Thompson might be biased, he should consider recusing himself if he cannot otherwise overcome that perception of bias.

The attorney said, “The courts rarely rule in favor of these Republican election challenges, so the fact that both the Arizona Supreme Court and the Arizona Court of Appeals reversed some of Thompson’s opinion raises a concern that Thompson may have overreached, overstepped, and some may believe that’s a sign of bias. And unless he believes he can overcome that concern with not only assurances of fairness, but actual rulings guaranteeing fairness to Lake including access to ALL requested signature verification discovery, then he should seriously consider recusing himself; otherwise, it may hurt the chances of him providing a fair trial if he doesn’t and it turns out he’s biased. Remember, everyone across the country is watching this case. He should do the right thing either by guaranteeing fairness, or put everyone at ease by removing himself.” 

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Mark Finchem Adds New Exhibits in Election Contest, Including Expert’s Declaration That Printer Settings Were ‘Intentionally Changed’

Former Republican candidate for Arizona Secretary of State Mark Finchem, who is contesting his loss last fall to Democrat Adrian Fontes, filed a Notice of Supplemental Authority and Evidence in Support of Contestant’s Motion for Reconsideration last week. A Maricopa County judge dismissed his lawsuit in December. Finchem included 10 exhibits consisting of mostly declarations from observers, election workers, and experts, including one who believes the election printer settings in Maricopa County were deliberately modified to create misreads of the ballots. 

Exhibit K was a declaration from Bob Hughes, who has 50 years in the printing industry and 16 years printing ballots for the Maricopa County Elections Department. Last month, Hughes and a team examined the Logic & Accuracy tests that were performed immediately prior to the election, the ballots used for testing, the certification reports for each voting center, and the tabulator reports printed from the testing. He concluded, “An intentional change was made to the printers affecting the DAY OF Election ballots.”

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