Wed Apr 6, 2022, 01:02 PM

Arizona Supreme Court rejects GOP request to invalidate mail voting

April 5, 2022, 7:06 PM PDT / Source: Associated Press
By Associated Press
PHOENIX — The Arizona Supreme Court declined Tuesday to consider a request by the Arizona Republican Party to eliminate the early voting system used by 90 percent of the state’s voters and require nearly all voters to cast ballots in person on Election Day.

The court ruled that the case did not meet the limited criteria for a lawsuit filed directly to the state’s high court but said the GOP could take its case to Superior Court.

The lawsuit filed in February argued absentee voting is unconstitutional and asked the justices to get rid of it or at least eliminate the no-excuse absentee balloting system Arizona adopted in 1991 and has steadily expanded ever since.

The lawsuit comes amid GOP efforts on many fronts to remake the system for casting and counting votes as former President Donald Trump repeats the lie that he lost the 2020 election because of fraud in Arizona and other battleground states. It was blasted by Democrats and voting rights advocates who said the argument was deeply flawed and aimed at undermining elections.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/arizona-supreme-court-rejects-gop-request-invalidate-mail-voting-rcna23139

Well, whadda know, some good news for a change out of my home state of AZ.

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11 replies	Author	Time	Post
Arizona Supreme Court rejects GOP request to invalidate mail voting (Original post)	MarineCombatEngineer	Apr 2022	OP
"...but said that the GOP could take its case to Superior Court." Is this good or bad? n/t	barbaraann	Apr 2022	#1
The AZ Supreme Court is the final say on matters of AZ law,	MarineCombatEngineer	Apr 2022	#3
This was a procedural ruling.	former9thward	Apr 2022	#6
Ah, ok.	MarineCombatEngineer	Apr 2022	#9
Whatever happens I doubt they would change things for the midterms.	former9thward	Apr 2022	#10
My reading is that they petitioned the state Supreme Court directly	gratuitous	Apr 2022	#5
Do States have "shadow dockets"?	Mad_Machine76	Apr 2022	#8
AZ does and I imagine most states do.	former9thward	Apr 2022	#11
Good for Arizona,	gab13by13	Apr 2022	#2
Wonderful	Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin	Apr 2022	#4
Don't worry, SCOTUS will take care of it	budkin	Apr 2022	#7

Response to MarineCombatEngineer (Original post)

Wed Apr 6, 2022, 01:11 PM

barbaraann (8,414 posts)

1. "...but said that the GOP could take its case to Superior Court." Is this good or bad? n/t

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Response to barbaraann (Reply #1)

Wed Apr 6, 2022, 01:18 PM

MarineCombatEngineer (7,267 posts)

3. The AZ Supreme Court is the final say on matters of AZ law,

so, they can try, but it will fail.

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Response to MarineCombatEngineer (Reply #3)

Wed Apr 6, 2022, 01:49 PM

former9thward (26,913 posts)

6. This was a procedural ruling.

The AZ SC said nothing about the merits of the suit.

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Response to former9thward (Reply #6)

Wed Apr 6, 2022, 05:38 PM

MarineCombatEngineer (7,267 posts)

9. Ah, ok.

Thank you for that, I don't get home very much these days, I'm usually out 2-3 weeks, then I'll take a few days off to recharge and get my rig serviced if needed.

Let's hope it sticks.

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Response to MarineCombatEngineer (Reply #9)

Wed Apr 6, 2022, 05:56 PM

former9thward (26,913 posts)

10. Whatever happens I doubt they would change things for the midterms.

The primary is less than 4 months away

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Response to barbaraann (Reply #1)

Wed Apr 6, 2022, 01:37 PM

gratuitous (78,345 posts)

5. My reading is that they petitioned the state Supreme Court directly

That sort of filing (at least in Oregon) requires a showing of extraordinary urgency to skip the lower courts. It sounds like the state Supreme Court didn't think the Republicans' direct petition satisfied that requirement. In essence, the Republicans wanted to go directly to the end instead of starting at square one. The Supreme Court told them they had gone about this wrongly, and to start from square one.

It's good in that a final decision on their petition is postponed, probably until after the 2022 election. Unless, of course, the Republicans demand some kind of expedited decisions from the lower courts so they can get to the state Supreme Court faster, and whether the Arizona state courts will accommodate them or not is the question we're left with. I think the Supreme Court has issued this decision in a way that signals the lower courts that they should take their time to thoroughly brief the matter and consider their decisions carefully. At least, that's my wholly-uninformed optimistic take.

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Response to gratuitous (Reply #5)

Wed Apr 6, 2022, 01:57 PM

Mad_Machine76 (22,839 posts)