Mohave County Superior Court Judge Lee Jantzen scheduled oral arguments for May 16 on whether Abe Hamadeh should get a new trial.
Jantzen dismissed his complaint challenging his loss to Kris Mayes for Arizona Attorney General in December. Jantzen’s ruling came shortly after Hamadeh filed an additional pleading to bolster his request, which accused then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs of withholding evidence from him and cited new arguments due to the Arizona Supreme Court’s ruling in Kari Lake’s election contest.
Hamadeh asked the court to consider the Arizona Supreme Court’s order instructing the trial court judge who had dismissed her case to reconsider the signature verification problems. “Although the Arizona Supreme Court’s March 22nd Order in Lake v. Hobbs (‘Order’) may not be binding precedent, any decision from the Supreme Court certainly provides significant guidance concerning the election contest still pending in this Court and how the State’s highest court may consider issues on appeal,” Hamadeh said in his Plaintiffs’ Consolidated Reply to Notice of Supplemental Authority in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for a New Trial.
Hamadeh refuted the defendants’ assertion that since the Arizona Supreme Court had remanded Kari Lake’s election challenge to the trial court to reconsider signature verification problems, it was too late for Hamadeh to ask for a new trial. Hamadeh said the opposite is true since the new proceedings could result in an evidentiary trial, “which no one disputes.”
In his earlier Notice of Supplemental Authority in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for a New Trial, which he filed on March 23, he stated since Lake was given a chance to have the signature verification issue reheard, he wanted Jantzen to vacate his order dismissing a similar count in his complaint.
The defendants claimed that evidence was “properly denied” in the original trial, but Hamadeh stated that it was “withheld.” Defendant Secretary of State Adrian Fontes argued that Hobbs withheld the evidence of tabulators misreading ballots because she was complying with a court order. Hobbs had discovered as a result of a statutory recount that tabulators in Pinal County caused the ballot count to be off by several hundred votes, and when they were properly counted, it narrowed Mayes’ lead over Hamadeh to 280 votes. Hamadeh wants all Arizona counties investigated to determine how many of these votes were not counted.
Hamadeh said the court order cited by Hobbs only prohibited counties — not the Secretary of State — from releasing information about the results of the recount. Hamadeh quoted the order, which was from a Maricopa County Superior Court judge, “Plainly, confirming tabulators improperly recorded valid votes as undervotes is neither ‘a daily vote total’ nor information that would ‘disclose the vote of an elector.’” Hamadeh said, “Plaintiffs litigated that precise issue at trial while Secretary Hobbs kept that critical finding under lock-and-key.”
Hamadeh also accused Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer of withholding requested provisional ballot information until eight days after trial, despite the fact the public record was “electronically stored, readily accessible, and available to Maricopa County as soon as the election was canvassed” weeks earlier.
Jantzen granted a request from Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Mesa) and Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives Ben Toma to file an amicus curiae brief. The defendants filed a response objecting to it, stating it will not provide any “unique information or perspective on the merits.” However, Petersen and Toma pointed out in their motion that A.R.S. 12-1841 states that each chamber’s presiding officer has “a right to intervene or otherwise ‘be heard’ in litigation concerning the constitutionality of state laws.”
The Republican National Committee is also assisting Hamadeh challenging the results. In an op-ed for Newsmax, RNC chair Ronna McDaniel said, “The Republican National Committee (RNC) is fully invested in working with Arizona Republican and Attorney General candidate Abe Hamadeh to fight this injustice. Make no mistake, the closest statewide race in Arizona history is not over yet.”
Jantzen said he will also be considering Mayes’ Motion for Attorneys’ Fees at the hearing
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Abe Hamadeh” by Abe Hamadeh. Photo “Katie Hobbs” by Katie Hobbs.
