Arizona secretary of state overstepped his authority on elections manual, judge rules

PHOENIX — A ruling by a Maricopa County judge has invalidated provisions of Arizona's elections manual, including one that said the secretary of state must canvass election results even if a county has not certified its ballots.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney ruled this week that Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes exceeded his authority when he created the rule in the 2023 Elections Procedures Manual. It required the statewide certification of elections results to move forward even if the vote tallies from every county in the state have not been submitted.

A spokesperson for the secretary of state's office said they were evaluating the ruling.

County officials in Arizona have refused to certify votes in the past, leading to delays and disruption to the election process. In October, a Cochise County official pled guilty to a misdemeanor related to her refusal to certify results in the 2022 midterm election.

Fontes had argued that the strict deadline he must follow to submit the state's election results justified the rule. Blaney agreed a tight deadline must be adhered to but said doing so doesn't justify excluding a county's election results.

''Nothing in the statutes permits the Secretary to exclude a particular county's canvass and/or, by extension, disenfranchise the entirety of the county's voters,'' Blaney wrote. ''The Secretary does not have the authority to read such a drastic course of action into the governing statutes.''

In the lawsuit they filed on behalf of the Legislature, Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Ben Toma, both Republicans, accused Fontes, a Democrat, of overstepping his authority by updating rules in the manual. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes, both Democrats, had approved the manual update issued in December 2023.

Arizona Republicans celebrated the decision as a win for the rule of law and election integrity.

''Secretary Fontes attempted to overstep his authority, but the court recognized these actions for what they were — unlawful and unenforceable,'' Toma said in a statement.

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Gabriel Sandoval is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.