Maricopa County is seeking direction from a federal court after it was found to have mistakenly violated a consent decree when preparing ballots involving the Phoenix Union High School District Governing Board election.
The county and the Board of Supervisors filed a motion for an emergency hearing in the U.S. District Court for Arizona on Tuesday, writing in their filing that they were found to have “inadvertently violated” the ballot consent decree. .
The consent decree comes after a group of black and Hispanic voters in the school district argued that the mass race violated their rights under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1871. , enacted in 1990. The statute states that in the 1980s, the majority white population within the district boundaries voted “sufficiently as a bloc to normally defeat minority candidates” on the board. “Thus, despite a sizable minority voting population…the overall electoral barrier combined with a racially polarized vote meant that a majority of British voters chose candidates from minority voters.” Now you can defeat.”
According to the consent decree, the court held that this popular voting method “did not provide minority citizens with an equal opportunity to elect candidates because it diluted minority voting power.” It was found to be a violation of Article 2 of the Civil Rights Act. It is their choice,” he informed the board. Going forward, the court expanded the board from five to seven members, created two at-large seats, and ordered that each voter cast only one vote for each of the two at-large seats.
However, this year’s ballots had instructions printed on them telling voters to vote for up to two candidates, according to Maricopa County filings.
Elections Director Scott Jarrett discovered the error on Oct. 7 and notified the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office the same day, according to the filing.
But by then, “ballots for military personnel, their families, and other overseas voters had already been mailed,” and some had already cast their votes, the filing said.
According to court filings, Arizona law requires early ballots to be mailed weeks before Election Day, and it can take weeks to change a ballot after the error is discovered. It should have been.
“If the Maricopa County defendants reprinted the affected ballots, they would be weeks behind the statutory deadlines for mailing early ballots and opening early voting,” the filing states. . “Not only does this violate state law, but it risks disenfranchising some voters who for whatever reason should have voted early on Oct. 9, 2024, or any date immediately thereafter.” It’s sexual.”
The county is asking the court for “expedited review.”
The filing states that the violation of the consent decree was “unintentional” and that a long-time employee who was familiar with the requirements recently left the company, but his successor did not know about it. He added that there was not.
“Typically, voters can vote regardless of the number of at-large seats at issue, but the new employee who oversaw the design of the ballot incorrectly believed that was the case here,” the filing states. is stated.
In their filing, Maricopa County and the Board of Supervisors proposed two options that they believe could “mitigate potential harm.” It included an order allowing the election to proceed and the winning at-large candidate to be seated “as if a consent order had been entered into.” or following an order allowing the election to proceed, but “prohibiting the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors from lobbying for elections for the two seats at issue and holding a special election for those two seats.” “At the March 2025 Jurisdictional Election.” ”
An emergency hearing was scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday.
Phoenix Union board candidate, constituency reacts to voting error
The two at-large seats include Debbie Cross, Francisco Isaac Pastor-Rivera, Aden Ramirez, and incumbent Aaron Marquez, who is on the ballot as the Democratic candidate to represent Arizona’s 5th Congressional District. Four people are running.
Coach Ramirez said he was disappointed in the mistake.
He said he would have changed his campaign strategy and potentially run alongside Cross, who shares similar views, had it not been for the consent decree requiring voters to vote for only one candidate. He also worried about the potential impact on public perception of the election. “When it comes to elections, there is already a perception from some groups that they are not well-run and that there are errors,” he said. “This doesn’t help that argument.”
He said the error should have been caught.
“This is nothing new that suddenly changed this election cycle,” Ramirez said.
Still, he believes that no matter what happens, “we’re going to have a diverse board,” as the consent decree intended. He said he doesn’t believe a special election will be necessary to accomplish that.
Cross believes that if he were not mistaken, candidates would have been on a more level playing field and that people would “actually choose the candidate they think is the best candidate on the board.” he said.
Ramirez and Cross said they are now trying to send a message to voters to elect them as candidates.
Marquez declined to comment. Pastor Rivera could not be reached for comment.
Phoenix union spokesman Richard Franco said in a statement that district officials recently became aware of problems with the ballots and recognized it was too late to comply with the consent decree. Franco said the district is “indifferent to potential remedies” and intends to abide by whatever the court decides, “hoping for a speedy decision that will not cause financial harm to the district.” Ta.
(This story has been updated to add new information.)
Here’s where to contact the reporter: mparrish@arizonarepublic.com.
