Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich will not pursue criminal charges against Secretary of State Michele Reagan for not issuing an election manual, according to a letter from Brnovich's office Tuesday.
Local attorney Tom Ryan had asked the attorney general to investigate Reagan for her decision not to issue an updated procedure manual for the upcoming election, which provides guidance to local officials. While state law does require the adoption and approval of a manual, interpretations differ about whether the secretary of state must submit an updated one for each election. While Reagan’s predecessor did that, Reagan decided not to this year, saying the 2014 version was good enough.
The attorney general’s office would not say which interpretation was correct, but that Reagan made a "plausible" policy decision and there’s no basis for criminal charges.
