Arizona’s Democrat secretary of state unlawfully bypassed the rulemaking process when developing the state’s election procedures, several of which are illegal, a lawsuit filed on Friday claims.
Brought by the Republican National Committee (RNC), Republican Party of Arizona, and Yavapai County GOP, the suit alleges that Democrat Secretary of State Adrian Fontes violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by circumventing the proper rulemaking process for Arizona’s Election Procedures Manual (EPM), which provides procedural guidance for election officials relating to things like mail ballots and voter registration. State law requires the manual to be issued by the secretary of state on Dec. 31 of every odd-numbered year and reviewed by Arizona’s governor and attorney general before finalization.
“Considering the import of this fundamental document, one would expect maximum notice and public participation in its drafting and adoption, and for the Secretary to hew closely to the authority the Arizona Legislature delegated to his office,” the lawsuit reads. “He did neither in finalizing the 2023 version of the EPM.”
According to plaintiffs, Fontes skipped numerous steps mandated by the APA when finalizing the 2023 manual. While the APA requires government agencies to allow “at least 30 days for public comment on the proposed rules after their publication in draft form,” Fontes allegedly only permitted 15 days of public comment on his initial 259-page draft of the manual, which his office published at the end of July.
Nearly two months later, on Sept. 30, Fontes released a 253-page updated draft of the
