The Arizona Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit filed by the state Republican Party against Gov. Katie Hobbs challenging two election-related executive orders Hobbs issued last year.
The executive orders allowed state facilities to be used as voting locations or ballot drop boxes, and directed state agencies to facilitate voter registrations on their website and in their offices.
The lawsuit filed by state AZ GOP chairwoman Gina Swoboda argued Hobbs did not have the authority to issue those orders and that the orders “severely harm and diminish the public and voter's confidence in election integrity.”
"We will not stand by as our constitutional rights are trampled," Swoboda said in a statement after filing the lawsuit in August.
Andrew Gould, an attorney for the Republican Party, argued the executive orders lacked important details, like where ballots would be stored at state facilities, and that Hobbs did not have the constitutional authority to direct state agencies to make voter registration forms available in “conspicuous public locations.”
They asked the high court to block the enforcement of both actions.
The governor’s office defended the actions, saying they will improve Arizonans’ access to voter registration information and help counties struggling to find enough polling locations.
Andy Gaona, an attorney for the governor, said the allegations did not make sense and that the party should have filed its lawsuit months ago rather than waiting until August, just under three months before the November elections.
“Counties designating state facilities as voting locations has nothing more to do with 'election integrity' than any other designation that counties make,” he said. “And state agencies making voter registration forms available has nothing more to do with ‘election integrity’ than anyone else (including the Arizona Republican Party) doing the same.”
The Arizona Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit but did not actually weigh in on the legality of Hobbs’ orders or the validity of either sides’ arguments.
Instead, Chief Justice Ann Scott Timmer found the state GOP did not provide sufficient justification to bypass lower courts and file the suit directly with the Supreme Court.
“The issues raised in the special action petition will not be mooted by the November 2024 election,” Timmer wrote in an order issued Sept. 12. “We further note that Petitioners have not addressed why neither EO was challenged until this point in time. An earlier challenge would have permitted the Petitioners to secure a final ruling well before the upcoming election.”
Timmer dismissed the case “without prejudice,” meaning the party can refile the case with a lower court.
Howard Fischer with Capitol Media Services contributed to this report.
