Conservative Group Files Lawsuit Challenging Pro-Voting Ballot Initiative in Arizona
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Friday, July 22, the Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AFEC), a conservative organization, filed a lawsuit seeking to disqualify Arizonians for Free and Fair Elections’ advocacy efforts aimed at placing a pro-voting citizens’ initiative on the ballot for the November 2022 general election. The challenged measure’s multiple pro-voting aspects include but are not limited to: safeguarding mail-in voting, protecting voting access for Indigenous voters and voters with disabilities, expanding early voting, improving voter registration, expanding voter assistance and preventing the Arizona Legislature from overturning presidential election results. To date, nearly half a million Arizonians have signed the petition, meaning that there are more than enough signatures to surpass the 237,645 signature threshold mandated by Arizona state law in order to place the initiative on the ballot this November.
However, AFEC’s new lawsuit alleges that numerous individuals collecting signatures for the petition (“circulators”) were not properly registered with the Arizona secretary of state and that the sheets used by the circulators to collect signatures did not contain the circulators’ full and correct registration numbers. The plaintiffs contend that these signatures are therefore “legally insufficient” and ask the court to disqualify them for failing to comply with Arizona state law in an effort to prevent the pro-voting initiative from moving forward and appearing on the ballot altogether.