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The Arizona Sun Times reports, Election officials released updated results Sunday evening showing Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake gained ground on frontrunner Democrat Katie Hobbs in Maricopa County by 54.6 to 45.4 percent. Lake defeated Hobbs 69.5 percent to 30.5 percent in Pinal County.

Over 97,000 of the estimated 192,900 ballots in Maricopa County have been tabulated – meaning about 94,000 ballots remain. Approximately 10,000 ballots remain uncounted in Pinal County.

Ex-election official and ABCNew15 analyst Garrett Archer noted in a tweet Sunday night that 66,959 other ballots remain uncounted in Arizona, in addition to the 94,000 in Maricopa County.

Lake will need roughly 58 percent of all the remaining votes in order to prevail.

Meanwhile, a triumphant announcement was made on social media by Katie Hobbs’ campaign saying that Hobbs is the “unequivocal favorite” to become Arizona’s next governor.

In Arizona and across the country, many wonder how Florida can complete its general election work within 24 hours of the polls closing despite being a three times larger state with 22 million residents. Sunday night’s announcement in Arizona marks the fifth full day of counting.

Townhall reports that there were protestors outside the Maricopa County Elections office protesting the slow ballot counting.

Roughly three dozen protestors held signs reading “Kari Lake Won,” “Hobbs is a Cheat,” and “Count the Votes.”

As the nation waits with baited breath for the results of the Arizona gubernatorial race, many are wondering how it is taking so long to count all the ballots. Democrat Katie Hobbs currently holds a slim lead over Republican Kari Lake, but with much of Maricopa County still left to be tallied, anything could happen. Some have speculated collusion behind the slow count, but election officials have assured the public that everything is being done above board. At this point, all we can do is wait and see how things unfold. However, one thing is certain – we need to have more transparent and efficient elections if we want to instill trust in our democracy. Answers are needed now more than ever.