Republican lawmakers in Arizona privately pressured county leaders across the state to count ballots by hand instead of using machines, according to previously unreported text messages.

The messages, obtained by Votebeat through public record requests, are a window into how state lawmakers are trying to leverage relationships with Republican county supervisors — who decide how to count ballots in their counties — to promote a practice that state officials have repeatedly said would be illegal.

And it highlights how lawmakers have turned to counties to try to change how ballots are counted, after failing to change state laws.

In Mohave County, for example, messages show that Supervisor Travis Lingenfelter requested a vote on hand-counting ballots during the upcoming presidential election after state Sen. Sonny Borrelli, a fellow Republican who lives in the county, connected him with a lawyer who promised to represent the board free if necessary.