Vote counting continued Thursday in the closely watched Republican primary for governor in Arizona, with Kari Lake, a Trump-backed former local news a
Vote counting continued Thursday in the closely watched Republican primary for governor in Arizona, with Kari Lake, a Trump-backed former local news anchor, maintaining a slim lead over Karrin Taylor Robson, a land-use consultant and civic leader.
Officials from both campaigns, who asked not to be named discussing internal deliberations, said it was unlikely that Ms. Robson would overtake Ms. Lake after the remaining ballots were tabulated, but the contest remained too close to call two days after polls closed.
Most counties were still working on tabulating and verifying signatures for early ballots that were returned on Election Day, as well as provisional ballots, according to Sophia Solis, a spokeswoman for the Arizona secretary of state’s office.
“Accurate results take time,” Ms. Solis said.
State officials expected the next update on results from the counties by 10 p.m. Eastern time, she said.
In Maricopa County, the state’s most populous, officials were still working on verifying signatures and determining voter eligibility for about 160 ballots. County officials expected a significant portion of those to be finished today, and the majority of the remaining ballots to be tabulated by Friday, a spokeswoman said.
On Wednesday, Ms. Lake, who has said she would not have certified President Biden’s 10,000-vote victory in her state, said she anticipated having the support of Gov. Doug Ducey, former Vice President Mike Pence and other Republicans whom she has excoriated for backing Ms. Robson.
“We’re one big happy-sometimes, sometimes dysfunctional family,” Ms. Lake said at the news conference on Wednesday. “I want to bring folks together.”
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