BREAKING: DISMISSED! Republican National Committee and AZGOP Lose Challenge to Arizona's Election Procedures Manual

The Republican National Committee has been boasting about all of the pre-2024 election lawsuits it has filed around the country. This morning, one of their Arizona cases came to an early demise.

The RNC - and the AZGOP and Yavapai Republicans - challenged the entire Election Procedures Manual and several of the provisions in it. After briefing and hours of oral argument two weeks ago, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Frank Moskowitz dismissed the entire case.

This is the first* decision from the three separate lawsuits challenging the guide that, by law, is drafted by Secretary of State Adrian Fontes's office and then approved by both the Governor and Attorney General. (Not coincidentally, for the first time ever, all three are Democrats.)

In his seven-page Minute Entry (below), Moskowitz expressed concerns about whether the plaintiffs had standing to bring the case and whether they should have brought it earlier (laches). However, he did NOT rule on those, instead detailing why he did not believe that the process of approving the EPM was either subjected to or violated the separate Administrative Procedures Act, and that the specific challenged provisions (e.g. documentary proof of citizenship, database checking, treatment of out of precinct provisional ballots) did not contradict Arizona stattues.

There is not yet word on whether the Republican party organizations will appeal the decision once it becomes final.

* Three weeks ago, Yavapai County Superior Court Judge John Napper granted summary judgment disposing of twin cases that challenged the dropbox and signature verification portions of the EPM. However, those cases pre-dated the new EPM and challenged the previous (2019) version.

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