Republicans in Maricopa County are suing election officials in an attempt to place a new legislative candidate on the July primary ballot to replace a candidate who withdrew from the race.
State law allows local political parties to pick a new candidate to replace withdrawn candidates, a process that played out earlier this month when Democrats in Legislative District 8 chose Lauren Kuby to replace Rep. Melody Hernandez, who dropped out of the district’s state Senate race.
Republicans in the West Valley’s Legislative District 29 held a similar vote on May 16, picking James Taylor to replace Rep. Austin Smith, who withdrew from the Republican primary for the district’s two seats in the Arizona House of Representatives.
But, unlike with LD8 Democrats, the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office rejected Taylor’s nomination. The Secretary of State’s Office said the law requires parties to name those replacements before ballots are printed and cited a May 13 printing deadline set by Maricopa County, the body administering the LD29 primary election.
In a lawsuit filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, the Maricopa County Republican Committee argued there is no way the county had already printed ballots before LD29 Republicans voted to place Taylor on the ballot on May 16.
That’s because state law requires election officials to send ballot proofs to county party chairpersons before printing.
“So the ballot proofs hadn’t even been sent to the county chair at that point. In fact, they weren’t sent until the day after we filed our lawsuit,” said Rep. Alexander Kolodin, an attorney representing the county Republican party.
A spokeswoman for the Maricopa County Elections Department confirmed ballot proofs were sent on May 23, but declined to comment on the pending litigation.
But the spokeswoman previously confirmed that the county set a May 13 deadline in order to meet its printing deadlines.
Kolodin dismissed arguments that the process to prepare ballots for printing could have begun before the May 16 LD29 vote.
“You’re not supposed to finalize the files until the county chair has got a chance to review the proofs and tell you about any corrections needed,” Kolodin said. “That’s statutorily required.”
Instead, he accused the county of acting unfairly towards Republicans.
“It’s kind of, in my view, a little bit of made up chicanery to benefit the Democrats while screwing over the Republicans,” he said.
The lawsuit names the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, which is controlled by a Republican majority, and Republican Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer.
It does not name Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat.
According to emails included in the lawsuit, the Secretary of State’s Office is open to placing Taylor on the ballot if the parties agree to do so or if a court orders them to.
County Republicans are asking a judge to issue an order requiring the county to place Taylor’s name on the ballot.
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