Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes sent a letter Friday to the state’s 15 county attorneys informing them it is not OK to hand count ballots.

Mayes said her letter was spurred by recent assertions made by a group of legislators that a Senate resolution provides a basis for counties to count all ballots manually.

“That is flat wrong,” Mayes stated in the letter.

“SCR 1037 is merely a resolution, not a bill, and it has no force of law,” she said.

“Any suggestion that this resolution is legally binding because of the Legislature’s ‘plenary authority’ is also wrong. In most instances, counting ballots manually instead of using tabulating equipment is impracticable, would significantly increase costs and harm the timeliness and accuracy of results.”

Citing Arizona law, the letter stated: “The officer in charge of elections may direct that ballots “be counted manually” only if “it becomes impracticable to count all or a part of the ballots with tabulating equipment.”

We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.