The Southwestern US state of Arizona has formally certified the 2020 presidential election for Joe Biden, becoming the latest battleground to do so ahead of the December 14 meeting of the Electoral College to formally cast their votes.
The Trump campaign had planned to include Arizona in its series of court cases seeking to challenge the officially tallied results of the November 3 vote, citing alleged fraud involving mail-in ballots and other suspected irregularities.
Traditionally a solidly Republican state, Monday's certification in Biden's favour is the first time since 1996, and just the second since 1948, that a Democratic Party candidate has carried Arizona, which awards its winner 11 electoral votes.
Trump won Arizona in 2016, defeating Hillary Clinton by 3.5 percent and over 91,000 votes. In 2020, he is said to have lost by roughly 10,450 votes.
The incumbent's supporters refused to recognize the loss since it was called for Biden by major US media on November 13, alleging that Republican election observers had been kicked out of counting rooms and citing problems with voting machines in Maricopa County leading to thousands of uncounted votes. The alleged irregularities led Trump supporters to stage protests outside the Maricopa County elections office, with one protest joined by Infowars founder and famous conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who yelled that the crowd wouldn't let George Soros, Bill Gates, "fascist commies" and the "New World Order" steal the election.
Along with Arizona, the Trump campaign has pointed to alleged fraud in in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, New Mexico and Wisconsin and Nevada. The Democrats dismissed the fraud allegations, with US media limiting coverage, and judges in these contested states dismissing the president's lawsuits for alleged lack of evidence.
Major media including the AP called the election for Biden on November 7, projecting that the candidate won 51.1 percent of the popular vote and 306 votes in the Electoral College, well above the 270 he needed.
