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Arizona Certifies Election Results, Affirming Biden's Victory In the State

By Brakkton Booker

Published November 30, 2020 at 3:43 PM EST

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, left, and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey exchange election documents to sign to certify the election results for federal, statewide, and legislative offices and statewide ballot measures at the official canvass at the Arizona Capitol on Monday.

Officials in Arizona certified the state's election results on Monday, affirming President-elect Joe Biden's razor-thin victory in the state over President Trump.

It comes as the president's legal team continues to tout unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in the state.

Biden won the Arizona by slightly more than 10,00 votes, earning him the 11 electoral votes in a state that hadn't been carried by a Democratic presidential nominee since Bill Clinton in 1996.

Officials also certified down ballot races, including one for Senate clearing the way for Senator-elect Mark Kelly, a Democrat, to be seated as early as this week.

Kelly defeated incumbent Sen. Martha McSally. Their match up was special election to fill the remaining term for the late Sen. John McCain, who was reelected in 2016 and died in 2018.

He is scheduled to be sworn in on Wednesday, according to The Arizona Republic.

Senate-Elect Mark Kelly, removes his mask as he prepares to speak at an election night event in Tucson, Ariz.

"This was a historic election for several reasons," said Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, at a brief event on Monday morning local time.

She noted that roughly 80% of eligible voters cast votes totaling more than 3.4 million ballots cast.

"Preparing for any election is an immense undertaking even in normal circumstances. The complexity this year has been compounded by the pandemic. In spite of this we had an extremely well-run election and saw historically high voter participation," Hobbs said.

Arizona's Republican Gov. Doug Ducey appearing alongside Hobbs, praised state election officials, poll workers and election volunteers "for their dedication to the success of our election system."

He added: "As I've said before, we do elections well here in Arizona. The system is strong and that's why I have bragged on it so much."

Meanwhile, the Arizona Republican Party tweeted Monday: "DO NOT CERTIFY A FALSE ELECTION!"

DO NOT CERTIFY
A FALSE ELECTION!
— Arizona Republican Party (@AZGOP) November 30, 2020

Members of Trump's legal team, including Rudy Giuliani took part in an unofficial meeting with some Arizona GOP lawmakers where he urged state officials to disregard election results.

In the days following Election Day, Trump's legal team raised concerns that some voters had their ballots rejected incorrectly on the basis that Sharpies were used to fill them out.

The saga, which came to be known as #SharpieGate went viral on social media, but failed to gain traction elsewhere, as the claim was debunked by the Department of Homeland Security.

Still that did not keep Trump's legal team from filing a similar lawsuit.

"The claims are baseless," Hobbs said in an interview with a local NBC affiliate days after the election. "At this point folks are grasping at straws."