The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Cochise County for being the first to approve a residents’ initiative to attempt to remove the Douglas Active Management Area (AMA), but the county now found the lawsuit worthwhile and removed the initiative from the November ballot.

Cochise County Election Commissioner Bob Bartelsmeyer confirmed on Thursday that he and county registrar David Stevens met with the Cochise County Attorney and found the complaint filed by the EDF to be valid, alleging multiple errors in the petition submission process and the wording presented to voters by the Save the Water Political Action Committee.

The Save Our Water Committee is led by McNeill resident Anne Waters.

In the EDF lawsuit, Bartelsmeyer said he allowed Save Our Water to separately file more than 2,100 signatures, which were prohibited. According to the complaint, the Save Our Waters Commission alleges that it first submitted 52 petitions with 634 signatures to Mr Bartelsmeyer on July 6, and then submitted another 123 petitions with 1,483 signatures later that day. Lawyers argue that once receipt of the initial petition is handed over, no further signatures can be added.

The complaint also alleges that the initiative’s description was misworded, assuming that the Douglas AMA could be abolished and the former Irrigated Non-Expansion Areas (INAs) reestablished through a citizen initiative. But the lawsuit claims there is no legal way for voters to get rid of the AMA. It also states that the creation of the AMA has dissolved the INA, which means there is no INA to be created and voters cannot create one.

Each petition circulated by the Save Our Water Commission did not require signatories to prove that they lived within the Douglas Groundwater Basin, according to the complaint. The petition only requires signers to prove that they are “qualified electors of Cochise County, Arizona.”

The signatures submitted by the Save Our Water Commission were first approved on July 13. In the 2022 general election, 52.52% of voters within the Douglas Groundwater Basin voted “yes” for the Douglas AMA, while 44.14% voted “no”.