As AZ3 Heads to Recount, Dems Suddenly Favor Accurate Tallies

There’s an easy way to tell if someone who questions the validity of an election is A) a threat-to-democracy election denier or B) a truth-seeking hero. Just look at which party they belong to.

In a scene so rich with irony it seems like a plot taken from House of Cards, the third district primary the third district Democratic primary for the nomination to replace Ruben Gallego in the House has come to a tiny sliver of votes. 42 ballots now separate the leader, Former Phoenix Vice Mayor Yassamin Ansari who got 19,087 votes, from second-place Raquel Terán, the former state senator, who tallied 19,045.

42 votes out of 38,132 cast for the pair in the district’s Democratic primary race means a margin of just over .1% (A third candidate, Duane Wooten, tallied just under 5,000 votes). Under state election law, a recount is automatically triggered by a margin of victory that is 0.5% or less.

Unsurprisingly, Terán is now counting on that automatic recount to thrust her back into the lead, or at least trim the margin a bit further.

That makes sense, and who wouldn’t want an automatic recount so the voters can feel certain the person the district actually supported goes on to secure a nomination that will almost certainly—in ’22 the district went for Gallego over Republican Jeffrey Zink 77-23— lead to an ultra-safe House seat.

Well, one person who previously hadn’t wanted an automatic recount was … Raquel Terán.

On February 9, 2022, when SB1008 came before the chamber, then-Senator Raquel Terán voted no. Lucky for her—and for others who care about knowing what actually happened in elections—the Bill attracted enough support to pass 17-12 (1 non-vote) and Terán will spend next week like the rest of us, waiting to see the votes in a very tight election be recounted.

You see, in 2022, the year that Kari Lake and Abe Hamadeh came dangerously close to winning the elections for governor and attorney general race, respectively, opposing efforts to count every vote somehow proved that you really cared about Democracy.

Two years later, the foot is on the other shoe, as the great songwriter Paul K might’ve put it. Suddenly, a recount is a great idea. Making sure every vote is counted is wonderful for democracy. Even Ansari tweeted a statement supporting the process.

Let’s see how long that enthusiasm for fair play lasts when it’s a Republican who wants to know if he’s been given the short end of the stick.