Facing a 19-vote loss in the Ward 3 Democratic primary, Tucson school board member Sadie Shaw is mounting a legal challenge to the election results, arguing ballot errors and irregularities may have cost her the race against incumbent Kevin Dahl.

Shaw filed an election challenge in Pima County Superior Court Friday, crowdsourcing the money to hire attorney Jim Barton of Barton Mendez Soto PLLC. Shaw said in a statement that Barton has advised her she has a strong case.

Shaw took to social media in the days following the Aug. 5 primary to raise funds to fight the results in court.

“Every dollar we raise now will make us stronger going into this fight,” Shaw said on Instagram. “This could be how we win Ward 3, but I need your help.”

Dahl had a slim lead on election night, with about 100 ballots still needing to be cured over the weekend. Shaw encouraged Ward 3 residents to stay alert for calls from election officials and check the Pima County Reporters website to track their ballots, saying her team was working on the ground to help voters.

“We’re hitting the streets to resolve the issues we can … but we need all hands on deck,” Shaw wrote on Aug. 8.

When the final count was announced on Aug. 11, Shaw’s 19-vote deficit triggered an automatic recount under Arizona state law, which has been put on hold until the legal challenge is resolved.

Shaw said on Instagram that her campaign was reviewing ballot distribution errors by the Pima County Recorder’s Office and Tucson City Clerk, claiming that hundreds of voters in wards 3, 5, and 6 were mailed the wrong ballot because of incorrect voter information from the Pima County Recorder’s Office.

She said her campaign had already found some Ward 3 voters who supported her but whose ballots were not counted, as well as independent voters who asked for Democratic ballots but were instead sent Republican ballots.

“We now know that at least 123 Democrat and Independent Ward 3 voters were disenfranchised due to ballot errors,” Shaw said in the Wednesday news release. “That number far exceeds the margin, and I cannot in good conscience ignore it.”

She went on to say that these issues, along with possible campaign finance violations by Dahl, could have influenced the outcome of the primary.

Shaw noted that while the close results showed that voters want change in representation, she was significantly outspent by her opponent.

“I have a mandate from half of all Ward 3 voters to leave no stone unturned,” she said. “We’re reviewing whether the outcome might have been different if the documented errors by the County Recorder’s Office in issuing ballots had not occurred.”

On Aug. 15, Shaw announced that her campaign had raised the $5,000 needed for an initial retainer in only three hours, noting that additional funds would be needed to cover the full cost of litigation, which could reach $20,000.

Last week, a donor stepped in to match contributions to her legal fund up to $1,500. With only a few days left to file a challenge to the results, Shaw urged her Instagram followers to take advantage of the matched donations to maximize the impact of their contributions.

“Win or lose, the integrity of our elections matter more than any individual outcome,” Shaw wrote in the Wednesday news release. “If we expect people to trust our democracy, we must show them that every vote truly counts.”

A hearing on Shaw's challenge has been scheduled for Monday in Pima County Superior Court.

Angelina Maynes is a University of Arizona alum and reporter with Tucson Spotlight. Contact her at angelinamaynes@arizona.edu.

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