Republican officials are contesting a decision by Arizona’s top election officer to approve the Arizona Independent Party’s name change a week after the state’s Democrats lodged a similar legal challenge.
The Republican National Committee and Republican Party of Arizona filed a lawsuit on Dec. 11 claiming Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes did not have the authority to approve a request by former Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson to officially rename the state’s No Labels Party as the Arizona Independent Party.
“What Secretary Fontes has approved is not the creation of a legitimate new party under Arizona law, but a unilateral rebranding effort by a small group of party insiders without voter consent and without legal authority,” AZ GOP Chair Gina Swoboda said in a statement. “His decision fails to provide clarity, transparency, and a voter registration process that the public can understand.”
Republicans are just the latest group to challenge Fontes’s decision.
The Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission filed a lawsuit earlier this month, arguing the change will create confusion in Arizona, where voters unaffiliated with any political party are often called “independents.” The Arizona Democratic Party followed suit with a lawsuit making similar allegations.
The Republican lawsuit, however, doesn’t allege the name change will confuse voters.
Instead, attorneys for GOP officials claim the change will result in increased competition for Republican candidates by making it easier for “independent” candidates to qualify for the ballot.
That’s because, under current law, candidates with no party affiliation must gather a significantly larger number of signatures than party-affiliated candidates to make it onto the ballot. For instance, statewide “independent” candidates needed to collect 42,303 signatures in 2024 while a No Labels candidate only needed 1,288 signatures.
“This will necessarily mean that candidates supported by Plaintiffs RNC and AZGOP will face increased competition for votes and will have their share of votes diluted by ‘Independent’ candidates who take a short-cut to ballot access,” according to the lawsuit.
Johnson, who chairs the No Labels/Arizona Independent Party, has said that is one of the goals of the new endeavor.
“If you want to run as a Democrat or Republican, you need 6,000 signatures. If you want to run statewide as an independent, you need 45,000 signatures,” Johnson said in November. “They've done, both parties, everything they could do to suppress independent voices.”
The law
The third-party No Labels organization gathered enough signatures to qualify as a political party in Arizona in the lead up to the 2024 presidential election as the group sought to field a third-party presidential ticket, but the party went dormant after those plans fell through.
Earlier this year, KJZZ reported that national No Labels officials cut ties with the party altogether and handed the reins to Johnson, who said he planned to rename the party with the goal of creating a home for independent candidates.
That came after voters rejected a proposition backed by Johnson that would have made it easier for those independent candidates to qualify for the ballot.
Like the state’s Democrats, Arizona Republicans argue Johnson’s latest plan is against the rules.
In the lawsuit, Republicans argue there is no language in state law allowing a party to change its name.
Instead, they argue, the law provides a clear path to create new political parties by filing paperwork with the secretary of state and gathering signatures from qualified Arizona voters. That’s the process No Labels officials followed when they successfully gather more than the
Attorneys for the Republican plaintiffs argue Johnson should have been required to go through that process to create a brand new party, rather than simply rebranding a separate party that already earned access to the ballot.
“In that way, the secretary allowed leadership of the new Arizona Independent Party to dragoon the supporters of the No Labels Party into their own movement,” according to the lawsuit. “Plaintiffs are not aware of any other Arizona political party being permitted to change its name while its only claim to ballot access is based on party-recognition petitions submitted pursuant to statute.”
Fontes has defended the decision to move forward with the name change.
“While we recognize the concern from those decrying the decision, the Secretary has followed Arizona law in recognizing the name change,” according to a statement last month. “At this time our office is working with counties, the Governor’s Office, and Attorney General‘s office to determine how to implement the change from an administrative standpoint.”
A new rule
But, even if Fontes has the power to approve the change, Republicans argue he still violated the law by fast tracking the name change.
That’s because he didn’t follow the Administrative Procedures Act, a state law that outlines procedures state agencies have to follow when creating new rules, including publishing proposed rules and giving the public time to comment on them.
Because there’s no existing rule outlining how a political party in Arizona can change its name, Fontes's decision amounts to a new rule, Republicans argue.
“The secretary’s letter approval of the No Labels Party’s name change to the ‘Arizona Independent Party’ and his implementing guidance are a rule as defined in (state law),” according to the lawsuit. “The substance of decision and guidance fit the definition of a rule under the APA.”
If that’s the case, they claim, a court should declare the new rule void.
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