Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward, who faces questions about her reelection, said the party lacks the structure to perform an audit of the election results but said she welcomed input to improve future elections.
Ward said in a radio interview with KFYI that there were “no complaints from anyone, from any state committeeman” or those carrying proxy votes about the election on Saturday.
The party used paper ballots and machines from Gila County to run the race.
Ward said in a YouTube video on Thursday that the results were final because “no one challenged the election on the day of the election.”
Republican committeeman Trey Terry told KTAR-FM on Friday that no one complained because the actual vote totals weren’t released until Thursday, violating meeting rules.
Sergio Arellano, a southern Arizona businessman who narrowly lost by 42 votes to Ward in a runoff election, asked state party officials for an audit of the election results earlier this week, said Kim Owens, a Republican consultant and a spokesperson for Arellano.
Arellano said he proposed running an audit on Thursday but was told it wasn’t possible. He said he has yet to receive a response on other proposed dates.
“The irony is, we both ran on election integrity. … Now that we are simply requesting an audit of the turnout, it’s kind of odd that it’s not being adhered to,” Arellano said.
Arellano said he did not expect the audit to lead to a reversal of wins for Ward and others.
Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
