Arizona Supreme Court Scraps Republican Lawsuit Seeking to Dismantle Early Voting System

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The judges declined to hear Republicans’ complaint, which alleged that the Arizona Constitution specifically and singularly allows in-person voting.

The Arizona Supreme Court has dismissed a Republican lawsuit intended to dismantle the state’s early voting system.

According to CNN, Arizona’s early voting system is used by the vast majority of Arizona voters. In fact, The Hill estimates that 90% of all voters cast their ballots through the mail.

However, Arizona Republicans and Trump supporters have made the state a battleground for conspiracy theories, despite the lack of any compelling evidence to suggest that election fraud swayed the state toward sitting President Joe Biden.

“Today, the Arizona Supreme Court dismissed a dangerous lawsuit that threatened early voting in the state and challenged provisions of the Elections Procedures Manual,” Secretary of State Katie Hobbs wrote on Twitter.

Hobbs, adds CNN, was named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

“Arizona voters will be able to vote early, access drop boxes, and make their voices heard,” she said.

Hobbs, a Democrat who is also running for governor, cast the Republican lawsuit as an overtly political challenge, intent on protecting conservatives’ diminishing grasp on the once solidly red state.

“Abolishing early voting doesn’t make our elections more secure—it just makes it harder for eligible Arizonans to vote,” Hobbs added. “These partisan attacks on our freedom to vote are about suppressing the vote, not protecting it.”

A gavel. Image via Wikimedia Commons via Flickr/user: Brian Turner. (CCA-BY-2.0).

In their decision, the justices said they did not have original jurisdiction in the case and were thus unable to hear the complaint.

CNN notes that the Supreme Court refused to consider two other issues in the lawsuit: whether Arizona’s election procedures manual should include guidelines for the verification of voter signatures, and whether the use of drop-boxes for ballots is unconstitutional.

The lawsuit was filed by Republicans in February.

In their initial complaint, Arizona conservatives claimed that the state constitution does not allow mail-in voting or other forms of early voting.

Instead, Republicans say that the Arizona Constitution specifically and singularly permits in-person voting.

“In-person voting at the polls on a fixed date,” the lawsuit said, “is the only constitutionally permissible manner of voting.”

CNN notes that the lawsuit was part of a larger effort by Arizona Republicans to challenge election laws. One recent bill, killed in February by the state House’s conservative speaker, would have permitted the Arizona Legislature to reject election results at will.

And as recently as last week, Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, signed a bill that will require all Arizonans to provide proof of citizenship and residency when they register to vote.