MCSALLY/BARBER DUEL IN THE DESERT: No Recount? Found Ballots Could Help Give McSally Lead Beyond Recount Threshold

Today's news from Pima County Elections that discovered that some 213 general election ballots had been discovered yesterday and today could hand GOP challenger Martha McSally a victory with no recount needed.

Her current lead over Rep. Ron Barber (D-CD2) is 133 votes.  The threshold for an automatic recount is 200.  If she picked up 68 votes from the conditional provisionals and others left to count, there would not be an automatic recount.

The newly-discovered ballots - which have a number of Republicans up in arms on social media - come from the Continental Elementary School District.  Here is a map of the district:

That area has voted heavily for McSally. The current vote total for one of the precincts, Prct 84, is 1,602-968, or 62%-38%.  The other precincts are a bit closer.  It is highly likely that McSally will pick up a majority of these 213 votes; if they match the 62% clip, she would add 52 (of the needed 68) right there.

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In other McSally/Barber news, the lawsuit filed by McSally's legal team on Monday, to stop the counting of provisional ballots if the receipt was not signed by the pollworker, has been voluntarily dismissed by the McSally campaign.

After the Superior Court judge denied their request for a Temporary Restraining Order to segregate those ballots and slammed the likelihood of success on the argument down the road, the McSally team saw no reason to keep the lawsuit alive.

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