Dem
51
GOP
49
Yesterday, Arizona's secretary of state, Katie Hobbs (D), certified the winners of the election (on Zoom). Of course, that included her own victory as governor-elect. Some Republicans are claiming that is a conflict of interest. However, as far as we remember, we didn't hear them claiming conflict of interest when then-Secretary of State Brian Kemp (R) certified his own election as governor of Georgia in 2018. In any event Hobbs' victory this year was also approved by Gov. Doug Ducey (R-AZ). In Kemp's case, no Democrat signed off on his win.
Once the process is completed, each winner will receive a certificate of election, suitable for framing. It also triggers three automatic recounts, required by state law. The highest profile one is for attorney general, where Kris Mayes (D) leads Abraham Hamadeh by 510 votes. Also due for a recount is the race for state superintendent of public instruction. There Tom Horne (R) beat incumbent Kathy Hoffman (D) by 0.4% so it is almost inconceivable that Hoffman could pull that one off. The third one is in a state House race.
Now comes the fun part. Candidates have 5 days to file a lawsuit objecting to the results. It is almost a given these days that every Republican who loses an election will file a lawsuit. Losing candidate for governor, Kari Lake, and losing candidate for secretary of state, Mark Finchem, are certain to do that. They are equally certain to lose in court because "I don't like the result" is not considered a valid legal objection. In races where there is a recount, the loser has to wait until the recount is finished before suing. Recounts very rarely change the results though because actual errors in counting tend to be random and usually more-or-less even out. (V)