Midterm Elections Updates: Arizona AG Gives County OK for Full Ballot Hand Counts

A poll worker handles ballots in Arizona, on Oct. 25, 2022. Olivier Touron/AFP via Getty Images

The latest on the midterm elections.

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Arizona AG Gives County OK for Full Ballot Hand Counts

Arizona’s Republican attorney general has issued an opinion saying that county officials can hand-count all ballots in at least five races from the Nov. 8 election, a move that gives a green light to GOP officials in at least two counties who have been pushing for hand counts to ensure election intergrity.

The new attorney general opinion led the two Republicans on the three-member Cochise County board of supervisors to boost their plan to hand-count some races in both early and Election Day ballots.

Under state law, the local leaders of both the Democratic and Republican parties would have to provide hundreds of volunteers to do the counts.

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Biden Votes Early in Delaware for November Midterms

President Joe Biden—accompanied by one of his granddaughters, a first-time voter—cast his midterm ballot on Saturday.

In-person early voting in his home state of Delaware, where Biden regularly returns for weekends, began Friday. Democrats nationwide have encouraged voters to take advantage of early voting, either by mail-in ballots or at precincts where available to maximize turnout.

Biden said he was feeling good about the midterms, which will decide control of Congress for the next two years.

In the final days before the Nov. 8 elections, Biden plans to step up his campaign travels with scheduled trips to Pennsylvania, Florida, New Mexico, and Maryland to stump for Democratic congressional and gubernatorial candidates.

“I’m going to be spending the rest of the time making the case that this is not a referendum; it is a choice, a fundamental choice,“ he said. ”A choice between two very different visions for the country.”

Biden voted alongside his granddaughter Natalie, who is 18 years old. He also voted in Delaware last month, when he made a quick, one-day trip for the state’s Sept. 13 primaries.

Delaware has no competitive congressional races this cycle.

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Utah Rep. Owens, McDonald Agree on Little in Only Debate

U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens and Democratic challenger Darlene McDonald agreed on none of the issues addressed Friday in their only debate before the midterm elections, with each largely echoing their party’s talking points on inflation, abortion, and infrastructure spending.

In an untelevised debate in the basement of a suburban real estate office with an audience of only campaign staff and half a dozen reporters, the Utah Republican blamed Democrats and President Joe Biden for fentanyl being imported across the U.S.–Mexico border, racial division, and inflation. Owens accused Democrats of pushing critical race theory and said that it’s destroying the country’s social fabric.

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No Absentee Ballots Destroyed After Georgia Mail Truck Catches Fire, Official Says

A Georgia official confirmed on Oct. 28 that no ballots were lost after a U.S. Postal Service (USPS) truck, potentially carrying 43 “outstanding ballots,” caught fire.

“As a follow up from the reports earlier this week on the USPS Jeep fire in Baker County. The review has let us know that there were NO ballots on the truck,” Gabriel Sterling said in a statement on Twitter.

Read the full article here 

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Trump PAC Donates $20 Million to Support Embattled Midterm Candidates

Former President Donald Trump’s super PAC donated $20 million this month to another PAC responsible for supporting Trump’s endorsed candidates.

Trump’s PAC, Save America, donated $20 million to Make America Great Again Inc. (MAGA-Inc), according to FEC filings released Oct. 27 (pdf).

Trump founded Save America shortly after he lost the 2020 election in order to help the GOP retake the House and Senate during the 2022 midterm elections cycle. It has been wildly successful at raising money, currently boasting more than $105 million in its coffers, but has come under investigation for allegedly misleading donors.

Read the full article here

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Arizona GOP Governor Frontrunner Kari Lake Accuses Legacy Media of Spreading ‘Fake News’ of Burglary

Arizona Republican governor frontrunner Kari Lake lashed out at the legacy media for spreading “fake news” about her alleged involvement in a burglary of Democratic rival Katie Hobbs’ campaign headquarters on Oct. 25, without providing evidence.

In a 30-minute press conference the day after the break-in, Lake claimed that the only reason Hobbs accused her was that she was losing in the polls.

“Guys, we’re going to do a tutorial on how fake bogus, defamatory news is made,” Lake told a gauntlet of legacy media outlets in Phoenix.

Read the full article here

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Arizona GOP Gubernatorial Nominee Thanks Liz Cheney for ‘Biggest Fundraiser Yet’

Arizona Republican governor frontrunner Kari Lake responded on Friday to Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-Wyo.) “anti-endorsement” efforts, saying a television ad she sponsored and recently broadcasted caused a surge in campaign donations.

“Thank you for your generous in-kind contribution to my campaign,” Lake wrote mockingly in a letter to Cheney that was shared on Twitter.

“Your recent television ad urging Arizonans not to vote for me is doing just the opposite,” she continued. “Our campaign donations are skyrocketing and our website nearly crashed from traffic as people rushed to learn more about my plan to put Arizona First and join our historic political movement.”

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Lorenz Duchamps, Allan Stein, Andrew Thornebrooke, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.