A federal district court judge has halted Tuesday’s controversial election for a seat on the Peoria city council.
Sean Holstege at The Arizona Republic reports that in the ruling by U.S. District Judge David Campbell, he honored a request by candidate Dr. Ken Krieger and issued a court order to block the counting of any votes in the Mesquite District race. A special election will be held instead.
Krieger is running against Ben Toma and Bridget Binsbacher for the Mesquite council seat. Mail-in ballots have already been sent in.
Krieger sued Aug. 7 after two mail-in ballots, printed on white and yellow paper, failed to include his name. A third ballot on purple paper was mailed out and did list his candidacy but the city council voted to count the flawed yellow-and-white ballots anyway.
Krieger’s attorney Kory Langhofer argued that the candidate was harmed because he was denied the chance to vote for himself and that the court need only prove that the election was fundamentally unfair because the language on the purple ballot was confusing. Langhofer argued that the only way to ensure a fair election was halt the process and start over.
Peoria City Attorney Steve Kemp countered that no legal damage was done to Krieger and the election was fair because voters still had opportunities to consider all the candidates. Kemp and others argued that Krieger can go to Maricopa County Superior Court to challenge the election after votes are counted, preserving his rights under state law.
