2nd Arizona county mulling hand-counts rejects effort

By BOB CHRISTIE
Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) — The elected leaders of an Arizona county have rejected a proposal to expand their hand-counts of ballots from next week’s election. The majority on the Pinal County board of supervisors said Wednesday they saw no reason to doubt the current hand-count audits that verify machine tabulation results. One supervisor had proposed expanding them to include more precincts. That leaves rural Cochise County alone in the state in pursuing a hand-tally of all their ballots, a move that is being challenged in court as illegal. A judge has set a Friday hearing on the lawsuit filed by a group of retirees seeking to halt that plan.