Key Arizona election races in 2022 likely to go into recount

It could be Christmas before final results of two key Arizona races are determined because their margins are so tight they're likely to trigger automatic recounts.

A new law, with bipartisan support, expanded the threshold for recounts after Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump by 10,457 votes in Arizona.

Contests for attorney general and schools superintendent currently are within the margin for a recount.

A recount will be triggered if the final margin between two candidates or ballot measures is less than half a percentage point of the total ballot votes cast. Before the law, margins had to be within one-tenth of 1 percentage point to trigger a recount.

Proponents say stiffer recount requirements should offer more assurance about election outcomes.

Only about 1% of Arizona votes remain to be counted in the two key races.

Midterm elections 2022: Arizona election results | Live updates

Arizona schools superintendent

Fewer than 9,000 votes separated Republican Tom Horne and Democrat Kathy Hoffman as of Tuesday evening. Horne had the lead.

Both Horne and Hoffman have experience leading Arizona's schools. Hoffman has been schools chief since 2019. Horne served from 2003 to 2011, before he become Arizona's attorney general.

Arizona attorney general

Despite Republican Abraham Hamadeh's tweet the day after the election insinuating that he'd won — and Kari Lake's congratulatory retweet — Hamadeh's race is likely to remain in recount limbo after the final votes are tallied. Democrat Kris Mayes and Hamadeh have taken turns throughout various ballot drops trading the lead.

As of Tuesday night, Mayes was ahead by about 771 votes.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona races that may go into a recount in 2022