Arizona Mail-in Voting Challenge I

Lawsuit filed on behalf of the Arizona Republican Party and a Republican voter challenging the state’s mail-in voting laws. At the center of the lawsuit is Arizona’s extremely popular no-excuse mail-in voting system, which has been in place since 1991. The petition alleges that the Arizona Constitution does not allow for any system of early voting, including absentee or mail-in voting, and therefore the state’s early voting statutes should be struck down. The petitioners also argue that Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) did not properly codify signature verification procedures for processing mail-in ballots and she exceeded her authority in allowing drop boxes in the state. The petitioners are asking the state Supreme Court to exercise jurisdiction and decide the “purely legal” questions of the case before the next election cycle. The Arizona Democratic Party, Democratic National Committee, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign filed a motion to intervene in the case to defend mail-in voting. The Arizona Supreme Court declined to grant jurisdiction over the lawsuit, holding that two claims could not be decided without a factual record developed in a lower trial court and one of the claims was brought against the wrong defendant. Following this, the plaintiffs filed a new lawsuit in state trial court raising the same claims.

Last updated: May 18, 2022 3:12 pm EST