According to former acting National Intelligence Director Ric Grenell, Republican challenger Abe Hamadeh is likely correct – he may indeed have won the 2022 AG race. Grennell’s post on X (formerly Twitter) directly responded to a post by AZ Attorney General Kris Mayes touting her 280-vote win over Hamadeh.

In her comment on Vice President Kamala Harris’ National Voter Registration Day interview with actress Storm Reid, Mayes alluded to the importance of voting. But Grenell addressed Mayes’ continued efforts to thwart reviews of 9k provisional ballots culled from the 2022 election.

“Kris Mayes and the Democrats failed to count every vote,” posted Grenell. “You didn’t win by 280 – because we don’t know how the 9,000 uncounted votes fall.”

This isn’t the “usual” GOP handwringing about vague voting irregularities. This is a former cabinet official and ambassador to Germany, one generally regarded as not from the out-there wing of the party, alleging that actual votes in heavily Republican areas simply weren’t counted by Democrats determined to notch the win for their party’s candidate.

Grenell told the Arizona Globe, “It’s total hypocrisy from Kris Mayes and the Democrats. They say we must count every vote while working behind the scenes to not count Republican votes. Why are Arizona Democrats not willing to count the votes from 9,000 people in Arizona? Because they are assuming those votes are from Republican areas.”

Refusing to investigate voter fraud and irregularities is an ongoing theme for the AG’s office. On Sept. 14, The Arizona Globe reported that Mayes declined to review evidence of apparent voter fraud, stating, “We are no longer reviewing these complaints based on historical elements and the unlikelihood of any potential prosecution after the length of time has passed.”

Hamadeh has also provided compelling evidence of voter “disenfranchisement,” a term most often associated with Democratic accusations of “voter suppression.” In his May 2023 court appearance, Hamadeh argued that the race’s outcome improperly skewed against him. He showed a 0.61-percent misread rate in a sample of 2,000 ballots, translating to about 400 votes for him. That alone would have changed the election outcome. He further alleged improper registration address changes, made without the voters’ consent, disqualified another 1,100-plus voters. The state’s computer system errors prevented those voters from voting on Election Day.

Arizona voting irregularities, a theme that has dogged the state for years, was thrust into the limelight in Donald Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in 2020. Allegations of voter fraud, voting machine malfunctions, and ballot rejections fueled the former President’s argument that he had beaten Biden. Then, as now, these claims have been largely ignored.