Arizona 2025 Elections Procedures Manual Challenge

An anti-voting lawsuit seeking to invalidate Arizona election rules that prevent voter intimidation and harassment at polling places.

Background

The Pima County Republican Party and its chairwoman, Kathleen Winn, filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D), challenging provisions of the 2025 Arizona Elections Procedures Manual (EPM). The lawsuit specifically targets two types of restrictions governing conduct at polling places. First, plaintiffs challenge the EPM’s “Electioneering Ban,” which prohibits electioneering outside Arizona’s existing 75-foot electioneering boundary if the speech is “audible from a location inside the door to the voting location.” Second, plaintiffs challenge the EPM’s “Political Speech Restrictions,” which direct election officials to “preserve order and remove persons engaging in voter intimidation, threats and coercion.” Plaintiffs argue the provisions violate the First Amendment’s right to free speech as well as the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process and equal protection guarantees. They ask the court to declare the challenged EPM provisions unconstitutional and block state officials from enforcing them. 

Why It Matters

The lawsuit marks the latest Republican challenge to Arizona’s Elections Procedures Manual and specifically seeks to invalidate provisions intended to prevent voter intimidation and harassment at polling places. If successful, the case could limit the state’s ability to protect voters from disruptive or intimidating conduct at polling locations. 

Latest Updates

• July 23, 2026: Arizona filed its answer.
• July 9, 2026: The court denied, in part, PCRP’s motion for a preliminary injunction as to the electioneering, aggressive-behavior, and frivolous-challenge provisions. The court granted, in part, PCRP’s motion for a preliminary injunction only as to their challenge of the apparel provision prohibiting “wearing clothing, uniforms or official-looking apparel intended to deter, intimidate, or harass voters.”
• June 16, 2026: Hearing was held.
• May 15, 2026: PCRP filed a motion for preliminary injunction.
• May 4, 2026: The Pima County Republican Party (PCRP) filed their complaint.