Lead Increases for Sinema Over McSally in Arizona Senate Race

Zachary Stieber
By Zachary Stieber
November 12, 2018Politics
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The lead for Democrat Rep. Kyrsten Sinema over Republican Martha McSally has widened in the Arizona Senate race.

In results announced on Sunday night, the lead for Sinema increased to more than 30,000 votes.

Sinema had 1,071,947 votes, or 49.5 percent, versus McSally’s 1,039,778 votes, or 48 percent, according to the Arizona Secretary of State’s office. A Green Party candidate has received about 50,000 votes.

On Nov. 9, Sinema led by about 20,000 votes, or around one percentage point, with Sinema at 991,433 votes and McSally at 971,331 votes. Sinema and McSally are vying for the Senate seat left by retiring Republican Sen. Jeff Flake.

After the results were updated on Nov. 11, Sinema’s campaign said the race was over.

“Kyrsten has now expanded her overall lead to 32,640 or 1.52 percent, meaning McSally would have to win the remainder of Maricopa ballots by 22 percent to take the lead in this race,” Sinema spokesman Andrew Piatt said in a statement.

“This is not plausible. Kyrsten will be declared the next U.S. Senator from Arizona.”

Cook Political Report, an election analysis group, projected a win for Sinema after the latest round of votes were counted.

martha mcsally in debate
Rep. Martha McSally, (R-Ariz.) at a debate in Phoenix, Arizona on Oct. 15, 2018. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Not Over

About 215,000 votes remain uncounted across the state, reported the Arizona Republic. Officials have said the final count may not be reached until Nov. 15.

McSally’s campaign said that the race isn’t over.

“Today our vote total grew at a greater rate than expected, and we expanded our vote margins in rural areas counting mail-in ballots dropped off on election day,” McSally campaign CEO Jim Bognet said in a statement.

“The latest release provides compelling evidence that the remaining uncounted ballots are favorable to Martha. And we will continue our effort to make sure all lawful ballots are counted.”

The updated vote came after a settlement was reached to allow all counties in the state to give voters a chance to fix problems with their ballots. Arizona is known for its slow vote count.

On the secretary of state’s website, the defense for the slow tally is given.

“One of the major reasons it takes time to count ballots is that there are hundreds of thousands of early ballots dropped off at the polls on election day—approximately 320,000 statewide this time. The counties are currently working to verify the signatures on each and every one of those early ballots before they can be tabulated,” the website stated.

“Once the county election officials verify the signature on each of those ballots (which is no small task!), they then make sure that a voter didn’t cast an early ballot AND vote in person at a polling location. All of these processes take a little bit of time and is done to ensure that voters can trust the outcome of their elections.”

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