A legal challenge has been launched by Ryan Heath, a lawyer known for his right-wing affiliations, on behalf of Abraham Hamadeh, a Republican candidate who did not win the Arizona attorney general race.
This lawsuit targets several high-profile Democratic officials in Arizona, including Attorney General Kris Mayes, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, Governor Katie Hobbs, and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. At the heart of the lawsuit is the claim that Mayes is unlawfully occupying the office of Arizona Attorney General.
The suit seeks to compel the court to issue a writ of quo warranto, a formal challenge to Mayes’ right to hold office, with the aim of stopping her from acting as the Attorney General and instead installing Hamadeh in the role.
Democrat Kris Mayes (Credits: NPR)
The basis of the lawsuit is an allegation against Maricopa County’s handling of the 2022 midterm election processes, particularly the method used to verify voters’ signatures on mail-in ballots.
Heath asserts that the county’s practice of matching these signatures to the most recent ones on file, rather than to the comprehensive “registration record,” led to huge number of votes being improperly counted. According to the claim, this resulted in “hundreds of thousands of votes” being unlawfully tallied in Maricopa County.
Democrat Kris Mayes wins Attorney General (Credits: krismayes.com)
As a remedy, the lawsuit requests the court to direct Maricopa County election officials to nullify the results of the 2022 attorney general election and mandate a new election for the position to occur in Maricopa County, possibly aligning it with the 2023 primary elections or an earlier date.
Additionally, it seeks an order for Maricopa County to clean up the voter registration record by removing all signatures deemed improper.
This lawsuit signals a significant confrontation between the Republican challenger and the incumbent Democratic officials in Arizona, focusing on allegations of electoral irregularities and the legitimacy of office occupancy. The result of this legal battle may impact the state’s political environment and its protocols for ensuring electoral integrity.
