Arizona Maricopa County Election Day Records Request

Lawsuit filed by Kari Lake’s gubernatorial campaign against Maricopa County, the Maricopa County recorder, multiple election officials and members of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors seeking to compel the production of records relating to the midterm elections held on Nov. 8, 2022. The plaintiff alleges that “many eligible voters may not have been able to vote” on Election Day in Maricopa County and since the defendants “were unable or unwilling to conduct a reconciliation of voter check ins against ballots cast of each polling center on election night in accordance with Arizona law and have now unlawfully refused to produce public records…regarding how they administered the election, [the] Plaintiff cannot determine that every lawful vote will be properly counted.” The plaintiff specifically asserts that due to numerous issues that occurred on Election Day — including “misprinted ballots [at approximately 118 polling locations], the commingling of counted and uncounted ballots, and long lines discouraging people from voting” — the production of records is warranted under the Arizona Public Records Act and is necessary for the plaintiff “to determine the full extent of the problems identified and their impacts on electors.” According to the plaintiff, the issues that occurred on Election Day throughout Maricopa County have “caused voters to be concerned…about the validity of the election results” and the requested records are “vital to the integrity of the election process and necessary to show, ahead of canvassing, that every legal ballot was properly counted.” The plaintiff ultimately asks that the court issue a writ of mandamus requiring the defendants to produce the requested records prior to the canvassing of election results. In January 2023, the case was dismissed.

Last updated: January 18, 2023 5:09 pm EST