Photo by Gage Skidmore
By Kiera Riley | State Affairs
After accidentally omitting one challenged provision in its ruling on the 2023 Elections Procedures Manual, the Arizona Court of Appeals corrected the record and ruled in favor of Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, finding county supervisors have a narrow, non-discretionary duty to canvass election returns.
The 2023 EPM contained a provision clarifying county boards of supervisors have “no authority to change vote totals, reject the election results, or delay certifying the results without statutory authority or a court order.”
In its legal challenge, the Legislature claimed boards of supervisors are legally authorized to “determining the vote of the county” in their canvass and leaned on the word “determine” to claim more leeway in assessing election returns than allowed under the 2023 EPM.
But the state, leaning on rulings borne out of the Cochise County hand count debacle, contended that case law cemented canvassing as a purely ministerial duty, not a discretionary one.
The court agreed.
