PHOENIX — A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Republicans, as premature and must be filed after the state has canvassed.
The lawsuit comes as Republicans, are seeking to challenge the results of the Arizona Attorney General's race.
JUST IN @AbrahamHamadeh lawsuit is dismissed by judge as premature and must be filed after state has canvassed. pic.twitter.com/QwM4a2hFoQ
— The AZ - abc15 - Data Guru (@Garrett_Archer) November 29, 2022
The suit was filed by Republican candidate for Attorney General, Abraham Hamadeh, and the Republican National Committee. The plaintiffs focus mainly on Maricopa County in their arguments but name the Secretary of State, as well as every county recorder and board of supervisors in the legal filing.
The suit alleges:
- some voters were unlawfully denied their right to vote
- ballots were "erroneously tallied"
- and certain "illegal" votes were counted
More than 16 lawyers were on the virtual hearing Monday.
The main issue during the hearing centered around the timing of the lawsuit, since state law stipulates election challenges can only be filed after the results are certified, which does not happen at the state level until December 15th.
"They say in their own complaint that the stipulations haven't been met," said attorney Dan Barr, who was representing Democratic candidate for AG Kris Mayes. "The issue before the court is very straightforward."
Lawyers for Hamadeh and the RNC argued that the certification was a foregone conclusion and that the impending automatic recount of the AG's race required more urgency.
"What's the point in not proceeding, if we're going to come back in two or three weeks," said attorney Kory Langhofer, representing Mr. Hamadeh. "We have to get this going or Arizonans are going to be deprived of their duly elected representative."
ABC15 Data Analyst Garrett Archer said the Republicans' goal is to erase Democrat Kris Mayes' 510 vote lead.
"They want to rehabilitate as many provisional ballots as possible," said Archer. "It's a very small pool -- about 4,000 votes in Maricopa and likely a little higher everywhere else. Probably about 8,000 altogether statewide...The [Republicans'] hope is that there's enough of those that are going to be Abe Hamadeh votes to push him over the line."
Republicans said they will need discovery from counties, so they can track down impacted voters.
"This is a lawsuit in search of facts," said Barr.
"I am deeply offended," said Langhofer. "Mr. Barr knows very well we've been requesting documents from the county."
Ultimately, the judge acknowledged this lawsuit, and likely others like it, are inevitable.
He said he hopes to have a ruling by the end of the week on whether this lawsuit will continue before the statewide certification.
The judge also encouraged Republicans to "consider consolidating" their election-related lawsuits, so conflicting rulings are avoided and the county officials' time is not tied up in hearings.
