Court rules Arizona’s ballot signature verification guidance doesn’t have force of law

An Arizona court has ruled the secretary of state office's ballot signature verification guidance does “not have the force of law,” dealing a blow to the state’s Democrat leaders.

The ruling Friday in the Superior Court of Yavapai County came after an election integrity group challenged Arizona’s new Elections Procedures Manual. 

“This portion of the EPM and the instruction from the secretary do not have the force of law," Judge John Napper wrote in the Sept.1 ruling.

Napper decided not to dismiss a complaint filed by an election integrity group, Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections (RITE) against Democrat Secretary of State Adrian Fontes.

The complaint alleges Arizona’s EPM does not have lawful signature-match guidance. These manuals determine how Arizona runs elections.

You can read the ruling here:

Arizona law requires county recorders to compare the signature on a voter’s ballot envelope with the “signature of the elector on the elector’s registration record.”

According to The Federalist, the current EPM requires recorders to “consult and review not only registration forms but also ‘additional known signatures from other official election documents in the voter’s registration record, such as signature rosters or early ballot [permanent early voting list] request forms.'"

The court added the current EPM creates a process that “contradicts the plain language” of state law due to allowing signature-match with documents that don't have anything to do with registering. 

All parties and their special counsels have been ordered to appear before a status conference on Sept. 19, The Federalist reports. 

“RITE will build on this victory to continue to fight in court for elections that are administered according to democratically enacted laws, not illegal partisan commands,” group President Derek Lyons said. “This is a huge victory toward securing the elections that Arizonans deserve, which are elections they can trust.”

Former Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who has been an outspoken advocate for election reform and has an upcoming trial on her efforts to obtain 2022 ballot signatures, also cheered the ruling. 

"Following this ruling, I have the utmost confidence that we will win our lawsuit to review the early ballot signatures later this month," she wrote on X, the platform previously called Twitter. 

Lake's two-day trial will occur Sept. 21 and Sept. 25.