As pop media spinmeisters continue to claim that the 2020 election is over, reality keeps returning to show us that things are more complicated than we’re being told.
Arizona Public Media’s Christopher Conover reports that AZ Governor Doug Ducey Wednesday announced he will not accept the results of the presidential election until after the Trump team and the AZ GOP have their day in court.
Conover Writes:
The state Republican Party and the Trump campaign are suing to keep Maricopa County from certifying its vote claiming there were voting irregularities in the state’s largest county.
And Ducey said:
There are legal claims that are being challenged in court and everybody on the ballot has certain access rights and remedies and if they want to push that they are able. Once those are adjudicated and the process plays out, I will accept the results of the election.
But this could put Ducey in conflict with AZ Secretary of State Katie Hobbs.
She would be the tax-fed bureaucrat who, as Christina Laila reminds readers at Gateway Pundit, slandered Trump supporters, calling them neo-Nazis:
.@realDonaldTrump has made it abundantly clear he's more interested in pandering to his neo-nazi base than being @POTUS for all Americans.
— Katie Hobbs (@katiehobbs) August 15, 2017
How sweet. And, of course, Hobbs is the character who gets to certify the election results for the entire state.
State law gives Arizona counties until Nov. 23 to certify the election. Each county then sends its results to the secretary of state, who has another 10 days to certify the vote statewide.
So, while Governor Ducey’s statement sounds nice, it doesn’t have any evident legal footing unless he, as Chief Executive of AZ, can find a way to block the Secretary of State from certifying the results, or he can block those certified results from being delivered to the Electors for the Electoral College.
And since the AZ Secretary of State is elected, and not appointed by the Governor, Ducey cannot simply fire Hobbs due to her clear bias.
This means that Ducey is offering a strong vocal reminder that the plaintiffs court cases should be heard. But it does not mean that Hobbs will agree with Ducey and not certify the results by early December. As Conver observes:
State law gives Arizona counties until Nov. 23 to certify the election. Each county then sends its results to the secretary of state, who has another 10 days to certify the vote statewide.
At that point, the winner of the popular vote total gets the state Electors, regardless of what the Governor says.
As Nicole Valdes reported on November 11 for ABC15.com:
In Arizona, electors are bound to vote for the candidate who received the most votes by law. Legislators, even if they'd like to, can't use influence to sway an elector to vote for another candidate.
This means the pressure will be on to see the courts do their work prior to the deadline, or to see higher courts issue injunctions to stop certification should the plaintiffs ask for injunctive action.
All in a battle to control your life and liberty from Washington, DC.