By Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | AZ Mirror
Election season is over, which means it’s now recount season, thanks to a 2022 law that greatly expanded the threshold for recounting close races.
In Maricopa County, three races currently qualify for a recount: Fountain Hills Town Council, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors District 3 and State Representative for Legislative District 2. In Pima County, the race for Sheriff will likely see a recount, and a city council race in Page in Coconino County likely will, as well.
Those races all fall within the threshold created by a law signed by former Gov. Doug Ducey that triggers an automatic recount if the race has a margin of 0.5%. Each race will need to have the election officer for each race filing a court order saying the race qualifies for the recount. Prior to the change in law, automatic recounts were generally triggered when the margin between candidates was less than 0.1% of total votes cast for the two candidates.
Before a recount takes place, state law says that a city or town council must certify that one is necessary and then file with a superior court judge, who would then order the recount. The new law triggered multiple recounts in 2022, but none changed the original outcomes of the races.
