Judge dismisses Arizona GOP AG candidate's election challenge lawsuit as 'premature'

An Arizona judge on Tuesday dismissed Arizona Republican attorney general candidate Abe Hamadeh's election challenge, asserting that he filed the suit before the state certified the election.

Arizona law requires that the state certify election results before they can be challenged. The state has not yet certified the contest and declared a winner.

"Plaintiffs argue that the result of the election is now known, and the declaration of results is just a ministerial act," wrote Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Randall H. Warner in the ruling. "But an election contest is a statutory remedy, and the Court is required to follow the statutes' requirements."

"Under these statues there can be no election contest until after the canvass and declaration of results because, until then, no one is 'declared elected,'" he also observed. "It is undisputed that the canvass and declaration of results for the November 2022 election have not occurred."

Hamadeh currently trails by 510 votes in the contest against Democrat Kris Mayes, according to The Hill. He asserts that malfunctions with the voting machines in Maricopa County and other municipalities statewide altered the final results.

Warner did not rule on the merits of Hamadeh's arguments.