Arizona certifies Biden's narrow victory over Trump

Arizona officials certified state's election results on Monday, formalizing Democrat Joe Biden’s narrow victory over Donald Trump even as Republican president's attorneys continued to make baseless claims of fraud about state's vote count.

Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and Republican Gov. Doug Ducey both vouched for integrity of election before signing off on results.

“We do elections well here in Arizona. system is strong,” Ducey said.

He did t directly dress Trump's claims of irregularities but said state pulled off a successful election with a mix of in-person and mail voting despite pandemic.

Hobbs said Arizona voters should kw that election “was conducted with transparency, accuracy and fairness in accordance with Arizona's laws and election procedures, despite numerous unfounded claims to contrary.”

Biden is only second Democrat in 70 years to win Arizona. In final tally, he beat Trump by 10,457 votes, or 0.3 percent of nearly 3.4 million ballots cast. Eleven Democratic electors will meet Dec. 14 to formally cast Arizona’s electoral votes for Biden.

Even as Hobbs, Ducey, state attorney general and chief justice of state Supreme Court certified election results, Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis met in a Phoenix hotel ballroom a few miles away to lay out claims of irregularities in vote count in Arizona and elsewhere. But y did t provide evidence of widespre fraud.

“ officials certifying have me effort to find out truth, which to me, gives state Legislature perfect reason to take over conduct of this election because it’s being conducted irresponsibly and unfairly,” Giuliani said.

Nine Republican state lawmakers attended meeting. y h requested permission to hold a formal legislative hearing at Capitol but were denied by Republican House speaker and Senate president.

Elections challenges brought by Trump campaign or his backers in key battleground states have largely been unsuccessful as Trump continues to allege voter fraud while refusing to concede.

re is evidence of widespre fraud in 2020 election. In fact, election officials from both political parties have stated publicly that election went well and international observers confirmed re were serious irregularities.

A judge in Phoenix has scheduled a Thursday trial in Arizona GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward’s lawsuit that seeks to annul Biden’s victory in state.

lawsuit against Biden’s 11 electors in Arizona asks for an inspection of mail-in ballot signatures and duplicated ballots in metro Phoenix, home to 61 percent of Arizona’s voters.

Judge Randall Warner is letting Ward’s lawyers and experts compare signatures on 100 mail-in ballot envelopes with signatures on file to determine wher re were any irregularities.

Hobbs’ office has said re was factual basis for such a review. Under questioning from Warner, Ward’s attorney, Jack Wilenchik, said Congress would decide presidential contest if results are annulled by court.

Last week, ar judge in Phoenix rejected Arizona Republican Party’s bid to postpone certification of election results in Maricopa County — which encompasses Phoenix and is state's most populous — and dismissed party’s legal challenge that sought a new audit of a sampling of ballots.

certification also paved way for Democrat Mark Kelly to take his seat in U.S. Senate, formalizing his victory in a special election to finish last two years of term of John McCain, who died in 2018. Kelly is scheduled to be sworn in on Wednesday in Washington.

GOP's Senate majority will fall to 52 members when Kelly replaces Republican Martha McSally, who was appointed to McCain's seat but lost to Kelly in election.

Control of next Senate will come down to two ruff elections in Georgia. If Democrats win both, Senate would be split 50-50, and incoming Vice President Kamala Harris would cast tie-breaking votes.