Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes wants a judge to remove Navajo County Recorder David Marshall from office just weeks after the county’s board of supervisors picked him to fill a vacancy.
On Thursday afternoon, Mayes filed what is called a quo warranto action, which is a legal challenge against someone accused of holding an elected office illegally.
That complaint, filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, argues that Marshall, who was serving as a state lawmaker when the board appointed him, was ineligible to fill the vacancy.
That’s because the state Constitution bars legislators from holding other county or statewide elected offices “during the term for which he shall have been elected.”
Marshall, a Republican, was elected in 2024 to represent Legislative District 7. That term ends in January 2027, when the next Legislature takes office.
“At present and until then, he is constitutionally ineligible to hold any other office, regardless of his resignation from the Arizona Legislature,” according to the attorney general’s complaint.
Mayes filed the challenge weeks after sending Marshall a letter threatening to do so if he did not resign.
But Marshall argues the attorney general is misinterpreting the law.
Marshall resigned before being sworn in as Navajo County recorder.
His attorney, Linley Wilson, argued that the resignation satisfied the constitutional requirement, which she says is intended to avoid “self-dealing” by lawmakers who simultaneously hold other offices.
“The constitutional text, its historical purpose, the relevant Arizona authorities, applicable statutes, and persuasive decisions from other jurisdictions all strongly support the conclusion that Recorder Marshall is lawfully holding the office of Navajo County Recorder and that no quo warranto action lies,” Wilson wrote to Mayes on May 6.
Wilson declined to comment on Mayes’ legal challenge “except that I’m surprised the Attorney General decided to file a quo warranto action against Recorder Marshall.”
