Current:Home > ContactFontes blocked from using new rule to certify election results when counties refuse to -TrueNorth Capital Hub
Fontes blocked from using new rule to certify election results when counties refuse to
Surpassing Quant Think Tank Center View
Date:2025-04-10 06:08:48
PHOENIX (AP) — Democratic Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes has been blocked from using a new provision of the election procedures manual that would have let him certify election results in the state if a county refuses to sign off on its own results.
In a decision Friday, U.S. District Judge Michael Liburdi said that under the rule all votes in a given county could be excluded if its officials fail to certify the results. The provision, the judge said, would give Fontes “nearly carte blanche authority to disenfranchise the ballots of potentially millions of Arizona voters.”
Two officials from a largely Republican county in Arizona delayed the certification of midterm election results in 2022, leading the attorney general to bring felony charges against them. Then-Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, now Arizona’s governor, warned that she might have to certify statewide results without numbers from Cochise County if they weren’t received in time, an outcome that would have tipped the balance of several close races.
Liburdi, who was nominated to the federal bench by President Donald Trump in 2019, said the provision would impose a severe burden on voters who may comply with voting requirements yet could be excluded based on the actions of public officials.
The provision was challenged by the America First Policy Institute; another group, American Encore. which describes itself as a defender of freedom and promoter of free markets; and an Apache County voter.
Lawyers representing Fontes defended the provision, arguing that the state’s interests in protecting Arizonans’ votes outweighs the speculative claims of harm by those who filed the lawsuit.
Fontes’ office did not respond to a request for comment Saturday on the decision.
veryGood! (3881)
Related
- Can Bill Belichick turn North Carolina into a winner? At 72, he's chasing one last high
- My job is classified as salaried, nonexempt: What does that mean? Ask HR
- Why Travis Kelce Thinks Taylor Swift Falling For Him Is a Glitch
- Why Sam Taylor-Johnson Says It Took Years to Regain Confidence After Directing Fifty Shades
- Travis Hunter, the 2
- Soon to be a 2-time Olympic host city, Salt Lake City’s zest for the Games is now an outlier
- What causes nosebleeds? And why some people get them more than others.
- Vermont’s Goddard College to close after years of declining enrollment and financial struggles
- Sam Taylor
- Love Is Blind's Jessica Vestal Shares Why She Lost Weight After Quitting the Gym
Ranking
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse Of The Heart soars on music charts during total solar eclipse
- Are casino workers entitled to a smoke-free workplace? The UAW thinks so.
- Helen Mirren's Timeless Beauty Advice Will Make You Think of Aging Differently
- Highlights from Trump’s interview with Time magazine
- Prince William Shares First Social Media Message Weeks After Kate Middleton’s Health Update
- Catholic Church blasts gender-affirming surgery and maternal surrogacy as affronts to human dignity
- Ralph Puckett Jr., awarded Medal of Honor for heroism during the Korean War, dies at 97
Recommendation
Retirement planning: 3 crucial moves everyone should make before 2025
Last call for dry towns? New York weighs lifting post-Prohibition law that let towns keep booze bans
Vermont’s Goddard College to close after years of declining enrollment and financial struggles
Mandy Moore's Style Evolution Over the Years Is One to Remember
Jorge Ramos reveals his final day with 'Noticiero Univision': 'It's been quite a ride'
Review: Why Amazon's 'Fallout' adaptation is so much flippin' fun (the Ghoul helps)
How Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright Are Reuniting to Celebrate Son Cruz's 3rd Birthday Amid Separation
Who is broadcasting the 2024 Masters? Jim Nantz, Verne Lundquist among Augusta voices