Ryan Heath circa 2015
Howard Fischer
Arizona Daily Star via Capitol Media Services
A Scottsdale attorney who is a supporter of Kari Lake is asking the Arizona Supreme Court to void not just the results of the race for governor she lost but the entire 2022 election statewide.
In a new filing, Ryan Heath contends it was illegal for Maricopa County to verify signatures on early ballots by comparing them with images from prior early ballots. He contends Arizona law says the only valid comparison has to be with the person’s original voter registration.
Heath is asking the justices to decertify the results and order a recount of all early ballots, this time using what he argues is the only permissible method.
If that isn’t possible, Heath says the court should order a new statewide canvass, but counting only the votes from the other 14 counties, which he says uses the proper method of comparing signatures.
If the justices don’t find either of those acceptable, Heath proposes to decertify all state races, including ballot measures, and order a new election to be conducted in Maricopa County “in a manner that ensures strict compliance with Arizona’s election safeguards.’’
In some ways, Heath’s arguments are not new.
He proffered similar legal arguments in a “friend of the court’’ brief earlier this year in the middle of Lake’s so-far-unsuccessful efforts to get her loss overturned. The justices rejected the brief as exceeding their word limits.
Heath conceded in his new filing that even Lake objected to his efforts to intercede in her case.
There was no official response from the county. But the litigation is likely to get a fight from county officials who have argued that state law does not limit their signature comparisons to only a voter’s original registration, which may have occurred years earlier, but can include other examples on file.
For early ballots, the state Election Code requires the county recorder to “compare the signatures thereon with the signature of the elector on the elector’s registration record.’’
There are procedures for election officials to contact a voter in cases of “inconsistent’’ signatures to allow the ballot to be counted. Heath says none of that permits a county, on its own, to decide that other signatures on file can be used for comparison.
What makes all that relevant is questions about whether some early ballots were improperly accepted.
