Howard Fischer,
Capitol Media Services
The state’s top election official is asking a judge to toss a bid by his own political party to keep potential competitors off the 2024 ballot.
In new legal filings, the attorney for Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said there is no legal basis for the Arizona Democratic Party to challenge his decision that the No Labels Party meets all the legal qualifications to run candidates under its banner. Craig Morgan said the mere fact that the Democrats are concerned about competitors hardly gives them standing to sue.
Beyond that, Morgan told Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper that the Democrats failed to prove their claims that the petitions submitted by backers of No Labels for political party status were legally deficient.
With the new filing, Fontes, a Democrat, joins the effort by attorneys for the No Labels Party to have Cooper kick the challenge to the curb.
Fontes, voters, No Labels
The bid by No Labels for ballot status is part of its efforts to put presidential candidates on the ballot.
Its website says it is creating what it called an “insurance plan that would allow a Unity ticket to run in 2024 if the two parties select unreasonably divisive presidential nominees,” terms it does not define.
