By Kevin Stone | KTAR
Arizona’s top elections official on Wednesday accused the state’s top legal officer of “political grandstanding” by opposing her plan to restrict how candidates can file nominating petitions during the COVID-19 outbreak.
On Friday, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, said her office would accept the filings, which are due by April 6, only by mail. After drawing criticism, on Monday night she announced the addition of a drop box option in the lobby of the Executive Tower.
On Tuesday, Republican state Attorney General Mark Brnovich issued a legal opinion, posting it to Twitter, that said the secretary of state couldn’t prohibit in-person filing under Arizona law. Senate President Karen Fann, also a Republican, had requested Brnovich’s opinion on the matter.
A day later, Hobbs ripped Brnovich for criticizing COVID-19 responses for coming up short in some cases but opposing her attempts to combat the outbreak and suggested the Republicans were engaging in “a coordinated partisan game.”
