Secretary of State Adrian Fontes officially signed off on the results of Arizona’s July primary elections.
Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Ann Scott Timmer and Attorney General Kris Mayes joined State Election Director Lisa Marra and Fontes as he signed the statewide canvass for the July primary, which saw over 1.2 million voters cast ballots across the state.
Fontes said Arizona saw 31% voter turnout in the primary this year. That’s down from 36% in 2020 and 35% in 2022.
Marra, who used to administer elections in Cochise County, praised the county election officials and volunteers from throughout the state for running a smooth primary election.
“No matter what your role is, we’re so grateful,” Marra said. “Political party observers, the people that serve on hand count boards, and mostly our poll workers — we just can’t do it without them.”
After signing the election canvass, Fontes laid out the next steps to determine the winner in Congressional District 3, where three Democrats sought the nomination to replace Congressman Ruben Gallego.
With all votes counted, former Phoenix Councilwoman Yassamin Ansari led former lawmaker Raquel Teran by just 0.1%. That falls within the 0.5% margin that triggers an automatic recount under state law.
“Very few races across this state have met the one-half of 1% recount threshold, but Congressional District 3, which is an election under the purview of this office, has a vote difference of only 42 votes,” Fontes said.
Fontes said the CD3 recount will start on Thursday, and a judge will read the results early next week.
