Arizona GOP threatens to sue Fontes over new Elections Procedures Manual
Prominent Arizona Republicans are threatening to sue Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes over the new Elections Procedures Manual he issued over the weekend.
Fontes published the new EPM on Saturday, one day before a Dec. 31 deadline included in state law.
The EPM provides county officials a guide for administering elections in accordance with state and federal law, but Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Ben Toma accused Fontes of attempting to rewrite election law through the manual.
They accused Fontes of using the manual to delay the implementation of a 2021 law that requires counties to remove voters from the early voting list if they have not cast a ballot in two consecutive elections.
“Bottom line is Secretary Fontes and the other members of the executive branch are not legislators, and therefore they cannot and should not insert their preferred policies into the EPM,” Toma said.
In a statement, Petersen said Fontes corrected the issue in a draft of the manual submitted to Attorney General Kris Mayes and Gov. Katie Hobbs but that the correction was left out of the finalized manual.
Petersen, Toma and Republican Party of Arizona Chairman Jeff DeWit all said they plan to sue Fontes over the new EPM.
Rep. Alexander Kolodin, an attorney who represents the state party, alleged the new manual removed independent oversight and criminalizes protests on Election Day near voting facilities.
The new EPM allows elections officials to take steps to prevent voter intimidation at polling places, including establishing guidelines allowing for the removal of individuals who use “offensive language”; post signs warning about penalties for “voter fraud”; and “intentionally disseminating false or misleading information.”
Kolodin accused Fontes of purposely delaying the EPM’s release to push through these changes.
“Secretary Fontes dropped this EPM on us at the last minute on a holiday weekend basically because he wanted to have as little time for public scrutiny as possible,” Kolodin, speaking on behalf of the party, said.
Kolodin said Arizona Republicans are still in the process of working through the 385-page document.
Under state law, the governor and attorney general must approve the manual before it can go into effect. Letters published by the Secretary of State’s Office show Mayes and Hobbs did not officially sign off on the manual until Dec. 30 — the same day Fontes published the finalized version.
A spokesman for Fontes declined to comment on Republican criticism, only saying the secretary of state is focused on ensuring safe, fair and secure elections.
“Free, fair and secure elections have been this group’s commitment to the voter from the very beginning,” Fontes said in a press release announcing the new manual. “This is what happens when a committed group of leaders comes together to serve their community. It’s good for our democracy and it’s good for Arizona.”
Toma said he expected Republican lawmakers to file a lawsuit soon, though he did not provide an exact date. A spokeswoman for Petersen said he planned to file suit by the end of the month.
