Groups file lawsuit to overturn Arizona’s early ballot process
PHOENIX – Two groups, including a Virginia organization founded by conservative Republicans, have filed suit to overturn the process now used by Arizona counties to verify the signatures on early ballot envelopes.
The lawsuit filed in Yavapai County Superior Court said state law requires election officials to match the signatures on the envelopes only with each voter’s registration record. But attorney Kory Langhofer, representing challengers, said counties are following the instructions in a manual prepared by the Secretary of State’s Office which permits comparison with other signatures that the county may have.
The problem with that, Langhofer said, goes beyond that the manual directly conflicts with state law.
He said it creates a situation where there could be multiple signatures on file for any given voter. And that makes it more likely that someone else could submit a ballot in that voter’s name and have it declared valid and counted, though the lawsuit has no examples of early ballots that were improperly counted.
All that comes amid arguments by some Republicans who have claimed massive fraud with the use of early ballots as well as the drop boxes for them. And there are several efforts this year by GOP lawmakers to curtail or kill early voting outright despite the fact that it was used in the most recent election by nearly 90% of all voters.
Failed Republican gubernatorial hopeful Kari Lake raised the same objections about signature verification on early ballots in her bid to convince courts to throw out the results of the election that she lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs.
A trial judge ruled that she raised the claim too late, saying she should have known about the conflict between the Election Procedures Manual and state law long before the 2022 election. Lake’s case is now on appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court.
By contrast, this new lawsuit does not seek to overturn any of the results of last year’s election. Instead, it seeks a court order against Secretary of State Adrian Fontes invalidating the current process, voiding the provisions in the election manual, and requiring recorders in the state’s 15 counties to use the narrower standards in future elections.
And that, in turn, could result in more early ballots being tossed out due to what appear to be unmatched signatures unless county election workers can track down individual voters and personally verify that they were, in fact, the people who signed the envelopes.
An aide to Fontes said he would not comment until he has been served with a copy of the lawsuit.
But Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer said there is a good reason why his office uses every signature it has on file to verify a signature on an early ballot.
“This allows us more comparison points,’’ he told Capitol Media Services. And Richer said it “allows for evolution of the voter’s signature’’ which can change over time.
And there’s something else.
He pointed out that those who register to vote while getting a driver’s license submit a signature electronically on a touchpad at the Motor Vehicle Division. And that, he said, “is often the worst exemplar.’’
Richer said, though, if a court rules that using additional signature comparisons is not allowed “we will follow the statute as it is interpreted.’’
Central to the fight is a section of law which requires the county recorder, on receiving early ballots, to “compare the signatures thereon with the signature of the elector on the elector’s registration record.’’
Langhofer, in his court filing, acknowledged that there is nothing in state law that explicitly defines what is a “registration record.’’
But he argued that “most naturally’’ means the state or federal documents by which someone signs up to vote and provides certain other information. And what it also includes, Langhofer said, are updated state or federal forms.
Only thing is, he said, is the most recent version of the Election Procedures Manual says county recorders “should also consult additional known signatures from other official election documents in the voter’s registration record.’’
That includes rosters signed by voters and early ballots request forms. And Langhofer said state election officials also interpret this to include signatures on early ballot envelopes submitted in prior elections.
That manual – the one Langhofer contends runs afoul of state law – was approved in 2019 by not just Katie Hobbs who was secretary of state at the time but also then-governor Doug Ducey and Mark Brnovich who was attorney general, both of whom are Republicans.
Langhofer said the problem goes beyond what he contends is what the law allows.
“The likelihood of a reviewer mistakenly determining that an affidavit signature corresponds to a signature in the registration record increases with each additional signature added,’’ he wrote. And Langhofer said that is true even if all the additional signatures are known with certainty to have come from the voter.
“This problem grows even worse, however, when there is some chance – even a small chance – that an added signature might not have come from the registrant,’’ he said. That’s because the people reviewing the signatures on the envelopes are making a probable determination that the person signing the envelope and the registered voters are “likely enough’’ the same person.
“But there is always a chance that the affiant and the registrant are, in fact, different people,’’ Langhofer said. “In that instance, under the EPM’S interpretation, the registration record is degraded not just by the addition of another signature but corrupted by the addition of an invalid signature.’’
The lawsuit is being pursued by the Arizona Free Enterprise Club. It has backed various measures to impose new identification requirements on voters while opposing efforts to restore the state’s permanent early voting list.
Also suing is an organization called Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections.
It bills itself as opposing laws changes in election laws that seek to give one group a partisan advantage and enforcing “constitutional standards against voting laws and procedures that threaten or dilute the right of qualified citizens to vote.’’
But MSNBC says that that RITE was launched last year by “a bunch of well-heeled archconservatives’’ to “pursue voter suppression measures. Founders include former U.S. Attorney General William Barr and Karl Rove who was a top adviser to former President George W. Bush.
Also named as plaintiff is Dwight Kadar of Sedona who has a long history of contributing to Republican candidates for state and federal office.