By Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Jessica Boehm | Arizona Republic
With the U.S. Senate seat hanging in the balance, the Yuma, Navajo, Apache and Maricopa County Republican parties filed a lawsuit against all Arizona county recorders and the Secretary of State late Wednesday.
The Republican groups are challenging the way counties verify signatures on mail-in ballots that are dropped off at the polls on Election Day, according to the complaint obtained by The Arizona Republic.
At stake is an unknown number of ballots that could tip the result of the U.S. Senate race. Just 17,000 votes separated Republican Martha McSally and Democrat Kyrsten Sinema as of Wednesday evening, a cliffhanger that could take days, if not weeks, to call.
The lawsuit seemed to signal Republicans’ anxiety over Thursday’s expected posting of additional results from Maricopa County, the most populous area of the state, where Sinema has dominated so far.
A hearing is scheduled for Friday morning in Maricopa County Superior Court.
