Tag: hand count

Arizona Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments from Arizona Republican Party Appealing Sanctions over Election Lawsuit, Grills Opposing Attorney

Rachel Alexander
Arizona Supreme Court

The Arizona Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week from the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) and opposing litigant Secretary of State (AZSOS) over lower courts awarding sanctions against the AZGOP for filing a “groundless” lawsuit “in bad faith.” The AZGOP sued Arizona officials immediately after the 2020 election for conducting a post-election audit that the AZGOP contended did not comply with the law. The AZGOP said the law required the audit to be conducted at the precinct level, but the audit was conducted at the voting center level according to the state’s Election Procedures Manual (EPG), which the AZGOP claimed contradicted state law. 

The AZGOP said A.R.S. § 16-602 requires precinct-level audits. The relevant part of that statute, (B)(1), provides, “ At least two percent of the precincts in that county, or two precincts, whichever is greater, shall be selected at random from a pool consisting of every precinct in that county.” In contrast, the EPM states that in counties which utilize vote centers, vote centers will be used for the audits. 

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Republicans at Annual Maricopa GOP Meeting Pass Resolution Asking Arizona Legislature to Conduct 2024 Election by Hand Count

Rachel Alexander

Maricopa County Republicans voted to pass a resolution last Saturday at the annual mandatory meeting for precinct commiteemen demanding that the Arizona Legislature conduct the presidential election in November using election integrity measures such as voting in-person only with only limited exceptions. The resolution states that the legislature has the authority to implement this under the U.S. Constitution. By doing so, they could get around Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs vetoing bills to accomplish these measures. Legislative District (LD) 3 Republicans passed the resolution unanimously on November 30 last year.

The resolution, authored by grassroots activist Josh Barnett, who is running for state senate in LD 2, strongly urges the legislature to use the authority provided in the U.S. Constitution’s Article 1, Section 4, Clause 1, and Article 2, Section 1, Clause 2 to select the time, place and manner of federal elections — specifically the presidential election. It asks the legislature to conduct the November 5, 2024 election for president with “voting in-person on Election Day only, requiring proof of U.S. citizenship, Voter ID, precinct-based voting and hand counting, no mail-ins, no machines, allowing absentee ballots only under appropriate mitigating circumstances.”

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