Arizona declares wrong winner in Green Party U.S. Senate primary

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes on Thursday declared the wrong candidate as the winner of the Green Party's U.S. Senate primary in the state.

Fontes signed a canvass declaring Mike Norton the winner. Norton's name appeared on the ballot, and he won 180 votes. Write-in candidate Eduardo Quintana won 282 votes, KJZZ reported.

The Secretary of State's office acknowledged the mistake and promised to correct it but has not spoken about how the mistake occurred. A statement is expected.

Arizona Green Party Chair Cody Hannah offered an explanation.

"Hannah said he believes the miscue resulted from a misapplication of a state law governing how primary election write-in candidates can qualify for the general election ballot," KJZZ reported.

The Green Party of Arizona is not "qualified for continued representation on the official ballot." To win as a write-in candidate for a "qualified" party, the write-in candidate must have gathered approximately 1,300 signatures. Quintana gathered far fewer.

Absent the required signatures, votes for Quintana would be disqualified. However, since the Green Party of Arizona is not "qualified," the primary winner is whoever received the most votes, write-in or not.

Quintana said the legal confusion could undermine confidence in elections.

The Republican Party of Arizona took a less measured approach to the mix-up: