Arizona county leaders end hand-count lawsuit, cite recount

PHOENIX (AP) — Two Republicans who control the board in a rural southeastern Arizona county have decided to withdraw a lawsuit they filed early this week seeking to force their own elections director to hand-count all the ballots cast in-person on Election Day. One of the GOP supervisors in Cochise County said Wednesday they did not want to interfere with the likely recount in the race for Arizona attorney general. The Republican and Democratic candidates are so close a recount appears likely. A recount will be triggered once the state accepts the election certifications from all 15 Arizona counties if the two candidates are within .5% of each other. The judge assigned to the case dismissed it on Thursday.