[co-author: Stephanie Kozol]

With Democratic Kris Mayes leading Republican Abe Hamadeh by 510 votes, Arizona law requires an automatic recount in the race for Arizona attorney general.

Hamadeh is a former prosecutor and intelligence officer in the U.S. Army Reserve. Mayes is a former Republican and Arizona corporation commissioner who says she seeks to build a broad coalition with bipartisan support.

Hamadeh and the Republican National Committee (RNC) initially filed a lawsuit last month, contesting the election’s preliminary results with allegations of fraud. After that lawsuit was dismissed because the election results were not yet certified, Hamadeh and the RNC filed a new lawsuit, challenging the election against Secretary of State and now Governor-elect Katie Hobbs and Mayes. The new complaint states that the plaintiffs are not “alleging any fraud, manipulation or other intentional wrongdoing,” but they want to ensure “that all lawfully cast votes are properly counted and that unlawfully cast votes are not.”

A judge will announce the recount results in a court hearing set for December 22.