By Howard Fischer
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PHOENIX - Mohave County Superior Court Judge Lee Jantzen late Friday turned down a bid by Abe Hamadeh for a new trial to contest his loss in the attorney general's race.

But it will not be until Monday that Hamadeh - and his successful foe, Democrat Kris Mayes - will find out exactly why the judge said he did not present enough evidence for a legal do-over

In his order, Jantzen said he has been working on a "minute entry,'' a type of court order, and hoped to have it done prior to Friday afternoon.

"But a weekend fire in the court's home and some emergencies added to my calendar have prevented completion of that minute entry,'' the judge wrote.

The order comes more than six months after Jantzen threw out Hamadeh's original challenge of the election results.

"The bottom line is, you just haven't proven your case,'' the judge said in December in ruling from the bench after a half-day trial. "There isn't enough information - I don't think even slight information - the election was done illegally or incorrectly.''

Hamadeh, in seeking a new trial, said problems unearthed in the legally mandated recount of the close race pointed up the kinds of things that can go wrong in an election. That specifically included findings in Pinal County that 507 ballots had not been counted the first time around, after the initial election results were reported and certified.

While the updated results after the recount closed the margin of victory for Mayes to just 280 votes, that still wasn't enough to set aside the results.

But lawyers for Hamadeh, the Republican National Committee and two voters argued that Jantzen, who limited their ballot inspections ahead of the first trial, said what happened in Pinal County should allow them to reopen the case and examine more ballots statewide. They contend that will allow them to determine if there actually were more votes for their client than listed on the final tally.

Jantzen said he took their arguments seriously.

"This is a close call in a closely contested election,'' the judge said in his Friday order. But he said he could not conclude a new trial was appropriate after considering the evidence presented as well as state law and the Arizona Constitution.

In a prepared statement, Hamadeh said he can't comment on the ruling until he can see the judge's reasoning.

"However, we believe the situation is very simple: The contest was not as close as it stands now,'' he said. "If all legal votes are counted, I win this race for attorney general.''

And Hamadeh vowed to take his case to the Arizona Supreme Court.