McSally threatens legal action over some provisional ballots

Rodriguez has already refused, saying her office will continue to process the ballots so they may be counted by the County Elections Department as early as Monday.

An attorney representing the McSally campaign and the Republican Party,
Eric Spencer, objects to the verification of any provisional ballot that lacks a signature from an election official on the provisional ballot form.

In his letter to county officials, Spencer demanded that the recorder’s office "cease transmitting any previously-verified provisional ballots to the elections department, pending a review of the provisional ballot forms for missing election official signatures."

Spencer cites the Arizona Secretary of State’s Election Procedures Manual, noting it states the election official must sign the provisional ballot form when a voter turns in a sealed envelope.

He said the campaign is formally challenging the validity of all provisional ballots that have a provisional ballot form with a missing election official signature. There is no indication how many ballots could be involved.

Deputy Chief Recorder Chris Roads said processing the provisional ballots has no bearing on the possible legal challenge. 

"Whether or not the poll worker signed the provisional is clearly identifiable from a simple examination of the provisional ballot form whether or not the provisional is processed by the Recorder’s Office," he wrote. "The fact that we processed the provisional form will not impact your ability to proceed with your challenge.  The Recorder’s Office is under a statutory deadline to complete processing the provisional ballots and we will continue to proceed toward meeting that deadline."

A representative for the McSally campaign could not be reached for comment Sunday night.