Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona's Senate Democratic candidate, improved on her lead over Republican Martha McSally as hundrrds of thousands votes still must counted.
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| With hundreds of thousands of vote remaining to be counted, Arizona Senate candidate Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat, maintained a small lead over Republican Martha McSally on Saturday. File photo by Joe Belanger/Shutterstock |
By Allen Cone, UPI
Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona's Democratic candidate for senator, improved on her lead over Republican Martha McSally as several hundred thousand votes remain to be counted since Tuesday's election.
The state secretary of state was releasing updates throughout the day Saturday. As of 6 p.m., Sinema's lead was 28,579 with more than 2 million votes counted. Sinema had 1,046,252 votes and McSally with 10,017,579 with a 1.3 percentage point advantage. Three hours earlier, her lead was 18,539.
On Tuesday night, the Republican had a small lead over her fellow current member of the U.S. House.
Sinema is ahead in Maricopa and Pima counties by a total 83,652 votes.
Late Friday, the Arizona Republic projected more than 360,000 votes left to be counted statewide.
Maricopa County's election office said Saturday night that 198,000 ballotes were remained to be processed. Sinema leads 630,0974 to 586,823 votes -- or 51-47 percent -- in the state's most populous county.
The voting has been slowed by Arizona elections offices verifying signatures for those who vote by mail, which represents most ballots.
Sinema and McSally are outgoing members of the U.S. House.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee attacked Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, saying he "has been using his position to cook the books for Kyrsten Sinema."
Fontes has denied the Republican allegation that he has destroyed evidence.
On Friday, President Donald Trump posted on Twitter: "Just out - in Arizona, SIGNATURES DON'T MATCH. Electoral corruption -- Call for a new Election? We must protect our Democracy!"
The outgoing senator, Republican Jeff Flake, dismissed Trump's allegations.
"There is no evidence of 'electoral corruption' in Arizona, Mr. President," tweeted Flake, who has clashed with the president numerous times on different issues. "Thousands of dedicated Arizonans work in a non-partisan fashion every election cycle to ensure that every vote is counted. We appreciate their service."
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