The Arizona Court of Appeals ruled Secretary of State Adrian Fontes broke state law with his 2023 Election Procedures Manual (EPM).
The court’s ruling reversed a lower court decision from last year (Republican National Committee v. Fontes).
The appeals court didn’t dive into the merits of the claims challenging the individual rules within the 2023 EPM. Instead, the court focused its ruling on confirming the Arizona Administrative Procedure Act (APA) to have “unambiguously state[d]” authority over EPMs — which Fontes argued to the contrary.
“In light of our resolution, we need not address the RNC’s alternative claims challenging eight specific provisions of the EPM on the basis that they contradict or directly conflict with state and federal statutes,” stated the ruling.
Arizona Republican Party Chair Gina Swoboda said the appeals court ruling proved Fontes operated under “blatant” partisanship in crafting the 2023 EPM.
“This opinion from the court shows just how much Secretary Fontes and his allies in the Governor’s and Attorney General’s offices overreached in their partisan efforts to hijack our elections through this blatantly political manual,” said Swoboda. “As we have highlighted to the court, the most-recent elections manual contained many provisions that ran utterly contrary to Arizona law, giving the Democrat machine a clear advantage at the ballot box for years to come.”
WE WON!
Today, the Arizona Court of Appeals gave the Republican Party of Arizona a decisive victory in its lawsuit over Secretary of State Adrian Fontes' unconstitutional and highly politicized Elections Procedures Manual, ruling 3-0 for the AZGOP and Republican National…
— Republican Party of Arizona (@AZGOP) March 6, 2025
The APA violation that did Fontes’ EPM in, per the appeals court: falling 15 days short of the required 30-day public comment timeline.
A violation of the 30-day public hearing period prior to finalization of the EPM was just a part of the RNC’s lawsuit against Fontes, much of which focused on the legality and constitutionality of the rules contained within the EPM.
The court wasn’t persuaded by Fontes’ claims of conflicts existing between the statutes outlining the APA and EPMs.
“[The APA] unambiguously states that all agencies are subject to the APA’s rulemaking procedures unless ‘expressly exempted,’” stated the court.
Thursday’s ruling marked another in a series of blows to the 2023 EPM.
Last December, the Arizona Superior Court invalidated key provisions of the EPM: a rule altering how voter registrations are managed for non-residents; a rule excusing errors in circulating registrations; and a rule limiting the role of county boards of supervisors during the canvassing process and allowing the secretary of state to exclude county results from the statewide canvass. That court decision arose from a lawsuit filed by Senate President Warren Petersen and then-House Speaker Ben Toma.
Last August, the Maricopa County Superior Court invalidated rules within the EPM restricting voter speech: rules such as prohibiting audible electioneering outside the 75-foot limit of a voting location, activities perceived as harassing inside or outside the 75-foot limit of a voting location, raising a voice or taunting a voter or poll worker, using “insulting or offensive language” to a voter or poll worker, general disruption to voting lines, following or confronting voters or poll workers coming to or leaving a voting location, and posting signs or communicating messages about penalties for voter fraud in a harassing or intimidating manner. That lawsuit was filed by the Arizona Free Enterprise Club.
It was back in January of last year that Fontes accused Republicans of engaging in “partisan politics” to prevent the release of EPMs subsequent to the 2019 version. Governor Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes both gave the 2023 EPM their approval.
Cane him.
The sad reality of this is that when irregularities are reported the “system” moves at a snails pace and any advantages created are not reversible. Knowing Fontes, and what has happened in the past, I am not surprised by this. How he was elected to the Secretary of State remains to be seen. Its a great reminder of just how blind the electorate can be when they don’t pay attention to the players. So now we know Stephen Richer is a bad player with his shenanigans and you can add Fontes to that list as well. Clearly disregarded and created his own rules for election integrity.
Typical Democrat lawlessness.
Two years later….they gonna be any consequences?
yes – an article like this …. and lots of wawwaaawaaa.
Gina, We did nit win! Fontes won. He implemented the illegal rules, then conducted the election process under them and consequently produced tainted results. But the results have never been looked at by the courts. The courts never looked at any results with an immediate inquiry. Under the strange indifference to elections by the courts we have no hope to change elections. Once Ds are elected by the low information majority of voters, all bets are off. Efforts should be made educate the low and no information voters.
The entire nation knows Arizona’s election process is an unholy mess, deliberately so. There is no other way to explain the likes of Hobbs, Mayes, Fontes, Richer and the Maricopa Board of Supervisors. I agree 100% with Greg H’s comment, but will be shocked if there is any corrective action at all. The perps do this because they know they can.
Surprise, surprise. Fontes was found guilty of breaking the law. He should be immediately removed from office and an interim SOS appointed by the Senate. What about other remedies? A fine? Imprisonment? How about a prohibition on running for any state, county, and local government office, including school board positions, for a period of 10 years? Fair enough? And if he has a license to practice law, a suspension of his license as well.
Can’t say it much better than that Greg. Although in this political climate in AZ, your and my wishes will never happen. Don’t ever forget he has the magic (D) after his name.
Agreed! The consequence should be so severe that no other fraudulent SoS ever considers doing such an evil deed, contrary to Arizona’s voter’s will! There must be a severe consequence!
and don’t forget the rope..