亚利桑那州和宾夕法尼亚州两个县的共和党官员周一拒绝证明他们的中期选举结果，一些人表示担心投票系统的完整性在保守派中变得司空见惯。
亚利桑那州科奇斯县和宾夕法尼亚州卢泽恩县选举委员会的共和党人投票反对认证选举结果的动议。
虽然科奇斯县居民投票支持共和党州长候选人卡利·莱克和共和党参议员候选人布莱克·马斯特斯，但两位候选人最终都输掉了全州的竞选。
卢泽恩县居民投票支持民主党州长候选人乔希·夏皮罗和共和党参议员候选人穆罕默德·奥兹，夏皮罗最终赢得了竞选，奥兹在全州范围内落后。
周一在科齐斯举行的投票可能会危及超过47，000张选票的认证，并使该县面临诉讼。
在周一的会议上，主管汤姆·克罗斯比(Tom Crosby)提议将认证搁置到周五，这一动议得到了主管佩吉·贾德(Peggy Judd)的支持。
“这个会议议程应该为选举机器的主题专家和国务卿办公室的代表之间的互动提供条件，”他说。
该委员会的主席、民主党人安·英格利什(Ann English)不同意这一观点，她坚持认为“我们没有理由推迟”，而且“我们不止一次听到每个人对机器认证的看法。”
Republican nominee for Governor Doug Mastriano speaks to supporters during a campaign rally, Nov. 2, 2022, in Pittsburgh, Pa. Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake greets supporters at a campaign rally, Nov. 7, 2022, in Phoenix.
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“我觉得你们两个都有必要的信息，以便我们做出非歧视性的决定，确认科奇斯县的选举，不管你对马里科帕、皮马、莫哈维或阿帕奇发生的事情有什么看法。我们在这里谈论科奇斯县和我们的选举，”她说。
在美国广播公司新闻的后续声明中，English表示，她认为“理事会没有按照章程的规定认证选举是非法的。”
“当其他董事会成员接受未经证实的想法和未经核实的说法作为事实，而不是依赖亚利桑那州选举办公室告诉我们这些机器已经过认证时，我感到特别不安，”她说。“科奇斯县的选举没有任何问题，我们的机器计数和人工计数100%匹配。我们没有任何问题，所有这些说法都只是哗众取宠。”
亚利桑那州在中期选举周期中成为选举不当行为指控的中心，共和党候选人在马里科帕县抓住打印机问题不放，该县是凤凰城和亚利桑那州约60%人口的所在地。当地官员坚持说，这些问题并没有阻止任何选民的选票被计算在内，尽管莱克继续声称这些问题耗费了她的支持。
马里科帕县官员周一一致投票认可该县的选举结果。
克罗斯比和贾德都没有立即回应就他们的投票发表评论的请求。
在卢泽恩县，选举委员会的两名共和党成员投票反对认证中期结果，两名民主党成员投票认证，一名民主党成员弃权。
卢泽恩县在选举日面临纸质选票短缺，但投票时间延长，以确保所有选票都能投出。
卢泽恩县经理宣布计划在选举后的第二天辞职。
“这个县已经有足够多的违规行为和足够多的差异，被剥夺选举权的选民被剥夺了足够多的权利，我不明白我们怎么可能不认真考虑重新投票，”选举委员会副主席、共和党人詹姆斯·麦格纳说。根据美国广播公司的子公司WNEP。
“我们仔细检查了所有的东西，直到对账，任何异常都得到了很好的解释。这是由于纸张短缺造成的投票混乱，”民主党成员奥德丽·塞尔尼亚克补充说。
弃权的民主党人丹尼尔·施拉姆说，“我的感觉是我需要更多一点的信息。”
尚不清楚该县将如何进行，尽管州政府可能会介入。宾夕法尼亚州国务院在一份声明中告诉ABC新闻，它已经联系了卢泽恩县官员，“询问董事会的决定和他们打算采取的下一步措施。”
据WNEP报道，施拉姆在周一晚些时候表示，在他得到具体问题的答案后，他将在下一次投票中验证结果。
传统上，一个县拒绝认证选举的情况很少发生，尽管在中期选举之前就有猜测称，由于前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)对他输给乔·拜登(Joe Biden)的2020年选举进行了毫无根据的攻击，共和党内部对普遍存在的选民欺诈和选举舞弊行为的信念越来越强烈，地方共和党官员可能会推动这样做。
这些问题预计不会阻止任何选举获胜者入座，尽管这些举措确实使这些县面临诉讼，著名律师马克·埃利亚斯(Marc Elias)也是如此对即将到来的诉讼的警告。
周一，他的公司在一份声明中表示，他们已经对科奇斯县监事会提起诉讼。
亚利桑那州和宾夕法尼亚州国务卿办公室的官员没有回应置评请求。
Republicans in Arizona, Pennsylvania counties decline to certify midterm election results
Republican officials in two counties in Arizona and Pennsylvania declined on Monday to certify their midterm election results, with some citing concerns about the integrity of the voting system that havebecome commonplace among conservatives.
Republicans on the election boards of Cochise County in Arizona and Luzerne County in Pennsylvania voted against motions to certify the election results there.
Though Cochise County residents voted for GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake and GOP Senate nominee Blake Masters, both candidates ultimately lost their statewide races.
Luzerne County residents voted for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro and GOP Senate nominee Mehmet Oz, with Shapiro ultimately winning his bid and Oz falling short statewide.
Monday's vote in Cochise could risk the certification of more than 47,000 votes and exposes the county to lawsuits.
At Monday's meeting, Supervisor Tom Crosby proposed leaving the certification tabled until Friday, a motion that fellow Supervisor Peggy Judd seconded.
"This meeting agenda should have provided for interaction between subject matter experts on voter machines and representatives of the secretary of state's office,"he said.
Ann English, the board's chair and a Democrat, disagreed, insisting there was "no reason for us to delay" and that "we have heard from every person more than once how they feel about the certification of machines."
"I feel that you both have the information necessary in order to make this decision that's nondiscretionary on our part to certify the election for Cochise County, no matter how you feel about what happened in Maricopa or Pima or Mohave or Apache. We're here to talk about Cochise County and our election," she said.
In a follow-up statement to ABC News, English said that she believes "it was unlawful for the Board to not certify the election as stated in the statutes."
"It is especially troubling to me when the other board members accept unsubstantiated ideas and unverified claims as facts instead of relying on the Arizona State Elections Office who told us the machines had been certified," she said. "Cochise County had an election without problems and our machine count and hand count matched 100%. We had no problems and all these claims are just grandstanding."
Arizona emerged as an epicenter of election misconduct claims in the midterm cycle, with Republican candidates seizing on printer issues in Maricopa County, which is home to Phoenix and about 60% of Arizona's population. Local officials have insisted that the issues did not prevent any voters' ballot from being counted, though Lake has continued to claim the issues cost her support.
Maricopa County officials unanimously voted on Monday to certify their county's results.
Neither Crosby nor Judd immediately responded to requests for comment regarding their votes.
In Luzerne County, two Republican members of the elections board voted against certifying the midterm results, two Democrats voted to certify and one Democratic member abstained.
Luzerne County faced a paper ballot shortage on Election Day, but voting hours were extended to ensure that all ballots could be cast.
The Luzerne County manager announced plans to resign the day after the election.
"There have been enough irregularities and enough discrepancies and enough disenfranchisement of disenfranchised voters in this county that I don't understand how we could possibly proceed without seriously considering a re-vote," Board of Elections Vice Chair James Magna, a Republican, said,according to ABC affiliate WNEP.
"We went over everything meticulously as far as the reconciliations, that's any anomalies were pretty much explained. And it was due to the confusion at the polls because of the paper shortage," added Democratic member Audrey Serniak.
Daniel Schramm, the Democrat who abstained, said, "My feeling is I needed a little more information."
It is unclear how the county will proceed, though the state could get involved. The Pennsylvania Department of State told ABC News in a statement that it has contacted Luzerne County officials "to inquire about the board's decision and their intended next steps."
Schramm said later Monday that he will next vote to certify the results after he got answers to his specific questions, according to WNEP.
It is traditionally rare for a county to decline to certify elections, though speculation had bubbled prior to the midterms that local Republican officials could push to do so as the belief of widespread voter fraud and election malpractice grows within the GOP, spurred on by former President Donald Trump's baseless attacks on the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden.
The issues are not anticipated to stop any election victors from being seated, though the moves do open the counties up to litigation, with prominent attorney Marc Eliaswarning of upcoming lawsuits.
On Monday, his firm said in a statement that they had filed suit against the Cochise County Board of Supervisors.
Officials with the Arizona and Pennsylvania secretary of states' offices did not respond to requests for comment.
