Washington DC – On Friday, America First Legal (AFL) refiled the landmark Arizona election integrity lawsuit on behalf of its clients in Yavapai County Superior Court. This lawsuit replaces the first lawsuit filed in Maricopa County and voluntarily dismissed pursuant to Maricopa County's Lawsuit Obstruction Plan. It also added Yavapai County as a defendant.

On February 6, 2024, the AFL filed a complaint against County Recorder Stephen Richer on behalf of Maricopa County, members of the County Board of Supervisors, local grassroots organizations Arizona Strong Community Foundation and Eric Labris. filed a periodic election integrity lawsuit. A registered voter in the county. On February 16, the AFL amended its complaint to add Coconino County's registered voters as plaintiffs and Coconino County and its Board of Supervisors and Recorder as defendants.

On February 8, 2024, just two days after the lawsuit was filed, the AFL filed a routine motion for change of venue, asking that the lawsuit be transferred to Yavapai County. Arizona law provides that a party to a lawsuit against a county has an absolute right to remove the lawsuit from that county. The Arizona Legislature created this right because it recognized the imbalance of power inherent when a party must bring a lawsuit against a county in that county's home state.

But despite the clear requirements of Arizona law, Maricopa County has fought hard to keep the case in Maricopa County. For example, a Maricopa County defendant filed a motion to dismiss Maricopa County from the lawsuit so that the law allowing change of venue would not apply.But, of course, Maricopa County teeth An essential and necessary defendant in a lawsuit challenging election procedures within a county. Counties play an important role in administering elections and are typically named defendants in election lawsuits.

For example, Lake Kali sued Maricopa County In the lawsuit, she argues that Maricopa is “charged by law with conducting elections within its jurisdiction, including through the Board of Supervisors, appointing inspectors, sheriffs, and… It argued that it was a proper defendant in the lawsuit. Judges staff polling stations on election day and appoint a specific central counting committee. ”

When Maricopa County responded to the lawsuit; I admitted that She was right.

Despite the fact that any lawsuit challenging the way Maricopa County conducts its elections must include Maricopa County as a defendant, Maricopa County is now trying to make a case contrary to what it has always admitted. Incredibly, they are trying to argue that the county should not be included as a political party in a lawsuit over how the county administers elections. Maricopa County is trying to pull procedural tricks to strip clients of their right to have their cases heard outside the county.

So our client decided enough was enough. They voluntarily dismissed the case and decided to refile it in Yavapai County.

On Thursday afternoon, February 22, 2024, they filed a notice of voluntary termination in Maricopa County Superior Court.

The next day, Friday the 23rd, AFL refiled the case on their behalf in Yavapai County, ensuring our clients could exercise their right to have their case heard outside of Maricopa County.

This new lawsuit includes all of the same allegations as the old lawsuit against Maricopa and Coconino counties, and also adds Yavapai County as a defendant. The new lawsuit also alleges against Yavapai County that some of the county's signature verification and remediation procedures are illegal and that the county illegally cancels voter registrations without its knowledge; It is alleged that the company maintains unmanned return boxes. Additionally, the new complaint alleges that at least one vote center in Yavapai County experienced a printer failure during the 2022 election, resulting in long lines.

The AFL has investigated and found that, like Maricopa County, at least one vote center in Yavapai County has a printer malfunction, resulting in long lines on Election Day in 2022.

Shortly after Election Day 2022, America First Legal filed a public records request with AZSOS. AZSOS ignored this request until America First Legal filed suit, after which AZSOS eventually complied with the request and provided relevant documents. One of those documents is the following email showing that at least one voting center had a printer malfunction, causing long lines.

This refiled lawsuit not only preserves our client's right to litigate this case outside of Maricopa County, but also helps bring to light other failures in the 2022 election that no one knew about until now. right.

America First Legal's landmark election integrity case against Maricopa County is not yet dead. It is alive and will continue where it should be outside of Maricopa County.

Statement from America First General Counsel James Rogers:

“A majority of Arizonans believe that flaws in the way Maricopa County conducted the 2022 election influenced the outcome. Public trust in our institutions is being shaken. The purpose is to restore the integrity of the election process. And how is Maricopa County responding to residents' legitimate concerns? Delaying litigation and preventing the case from being heard on the merits? This voluntary dismissal is not the end of this case, but only the beginning. This case has been re-filed in Yavapai County, and we continue to vigorously prosecute this case on behalf of our client. “It's time to restore public confidence in Arizona's elections,” said James Rogers.

Read the amended complaint here.

Read the email regarding printer issues in Yavapai County here.

Read here the AFL's brief describing some of its attempts to undermine Maricopa County's lawsuit filed in Maricopa County Superior Court.

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Photo credit: Adobe Stock Images / niyazz