Press release from Secretary of State Ken Bennett:

Proposition 112 recount certified; results confirm ballot measure’s defeat

More than 1.75 million ballots recounted as required by Arizona law

PHOENIX – The statewide recount of Proposition 112 has been successfully completed, with the results certified today by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Robert Oberbillig.

Those results confirm the defeat of Prop 112, which would have moved up by 60 days the deadline for citizens’ initiative campaigns to submit signature petitions to qualify for the ballot.

Following the state’s Nov. 2 General Election, “no” votes on Prop 112 exceeded “yes” votes by 128. The closeness of the vote total triggered an automatic recount under the guidelines of Arizona law. (ARS 16-661)

Following today’s certification of that recount, the proposition was defeated by a margin of 194 votes out of 1,750,932 ballots cast. The recount found that 792,858 votes were cast against Prop 112; 792,664 were cast in favor. The remaining 200,000 or so state ballots didn’t include a vote on the Prop 112 issue.

“This statewide recount was a massive endeavor,” said Secretary of State Ken Bennett. “The efficient and accurate manner in which it was conducted is testimony to the collective efforts of state and county elections staff.”

The Prop 112 recount was the first of its kind for a statewide ballot proposition in Arizona . Every state ballot was recounted in the same manner it was tabulated following the General Election, as mandated under state law. The recount WAS NOT administered by hand.

A slight shift in vote totals was inevitable in light of the large number of ballots being re-tabulated. But the Secretary of State’s Office was pleased that the re-counted result for Prop 112 was within 99.996 percent of the vote total tabulated immediately following the General Election.

“The historic nature and sheer scale of this recount made it a learning experience for all of us,” Secretary Bennett said. “But this exercise confirmed the accuracy of our voting system, and should give voters confidence in the integrity of Arizona elections.”

Proposition 112 was losing by 128 votes after all the early & provisional ballots were counted days after the November 2nd General Election, and now this recount certified its defeat by 194 votes.

Arizona Secretary of State’s website update today at 5:35 p.m. has posted that Prop. 203 is now winning by 4421 votes.

YES
50.13% 835,735
NO
49.87% 831,314
1,667,049 (total)

Prop. 203 was losing since Election night (Nov. 2nd), but the difference was lessening today.

Watch the website (click here) as the final votes are tallied for Maricopa County. Deadline for counting all ballots is supposed to be today per the Sec. of State’s office.

Prop 112 (initiative petitions) is now in a dead heat (ahead by a 43 vote difference). The Sec. of State reports that a 200 or less vote difference would trigger an automatic recount for any of the statewide propositions.

Stay tuned.

UPDATE: read 11/13/10 Az Daily Star article stating that this lead is probably enough for Prop. 203 to ultimately prevail:

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/elections/article_4a2acfa6-fef9-5104-ac14-422eb139a327.html

Maricopa County still has 10,000 votes to count (hopefully today- Saturday, Nov. 13, so there may be a press release later).

UPDATE 11/13, 4:34 p.m. SOS posting: Prop. 112 now losing again by 123 votes, and Prop. 203 ahead by 4341, slight changes since yesterday. This is an additional 11,302 votes since yesterday, so maybe Mariciopa County has completed their tallying.
But if this is the final count, a recount may be ahead for Prop. 112 (since it is within the 200 vote difference that triggers an automatic recount). Voter turnout is at 55.65%.