Title
Arizona Arizona Democratic Party v. Katie Hobbs / COMPLAINT FOR INJUNCTIVE AND DECLARATORY RELIEF
Arizona Arizona Democratic Party v. Katie Hobbs / COMPLAINT FOR INJUNCTIVE AND DECLARATORY RELIEF
2:20-cv-01143-DLR (D. Ariz.) 20-16759; 20-16766 (9th Cir.)
U.S. District Judge Douglas Rayes
Katie Hobbs, in her official capacity as
Arizona Secretary of State; Edison Wauneka,
in his official capacity as Apache County
Recorder; David Stevens, in his official
capacity as Cochise County Recorder; Patty
Hansen, in her official capacity as Coconino
County Recorder; Sadie Jo Bingham, in her
official capacity as Gila County Recorder;
Wendy John, in her official capacity as
Graham County Recorder; Sharie Milheiro, in
her official capacity as Greenlee County
Recorder; Richard Garcia, in his official
capacity as La Paz County Recorder; Adrian
Fontes, in his official capacity as Maricopa
County Recorder; Kristi Blair, in her official
capacity as Mohave County Recorder; Michael
Sample, in his official capacity as Navajo
County Recorder; F. Ann Rodriguez, in her
official capacity as Pima County Recorder;
Virginia Ross, in her official capacity as Pinal
County Recorder; Suzanne Sainz, in her
official capacity as Santa Cruz County
Recorder; Leslie Hoffman, in her official
capacity as Yavapai County Recorder; and
Robyn Stallworth Pouquette, in her official
capacity as Yuma County Recorder,
Defendants
Alexis E. Danneman (SBA #030478)
Joshua L. Boehm (SBA #033018)
PERKINS COIE LLP
2901 North Central Avenue, Suite 2000
Phoenix, Arizona 85012-2788
Telephone: 602.351.8000
Facsimile: 602.648.7000
ADanneman@perkinscoie.com
JBoehm@perkinscoie.com
DocketPHX@perkinscoie.com
Kevin J. Hamilton (Wash. Bar #15648)*
KHamilton@perkinscoie.com
Marc Erik Elias (D.C. Bar #442007)*
MElias@perkinscoie.com
William B. Stafford (Wash. Bar #39849)*
WStafford@perkinscoie.com
Sarah Langberg Schirack (Alaska Bar # 1505075)*
SSchirack@perkinscoie.com
Ariel Glickman (Va. Bar #90751)*
AGlickman@perkinscoie.com
PERKINS COIE LLP
700 Thirteenth Street, N.W., Suite 800
Washington, DC 20005
Telephone: 202.654.6200
Facsimile: 202.654.6211
*Pro Hac Vice Application To Be Filed
The State of Arizona’s (“State”) and EDISON WAUNEKA, in his official
capacity as Apache County Recorder;
DAVID STEVENS, in his official capacity
as Cochise County Recorder; PATTY
HANSEN, in her official capacity as
Coconino County Recorder; SADIE JO
BINGHAM, in her official capacity as Gila
County Recorder; WENDY JOHN, in her
official capacity as Graham County
Recorder; SHARIE MILHEIRO, in her
official capacity as Greenlee County
Recorder; RICHARD GARCIA, in his
official capacity as La Paz County Recorder;
No. 20-16759
D.C. No. 2:20-cv-01143-DLR
District of Arizona,
ADRIAN FONTES, in his official capacity
as Maricopa County Recorder; KRISTI
BLAIR, in her official capacity as Mohave
County Recorder; MICHAEL SAMPLE, in
his official capacity as Navajo County
Recorder; F. ANN RODRIGUEZ, in her
official capacity as Pima County Recorder;
VIRGINIA ROSS, in her official capacity as
Pinal County Recorder; SUZANNE SAINZ,
in her official capacity as Santa Cruz County
Recorder; LESLIE HOFFMAN, in her
official capacity as Yavapai County
Recorder; ROBYN POUQUETTE, in her
official capacity as Yuma County Recorder,
The Republican National Committee, the Arizona Republican Party, and
Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.’s (“Movants”)
KATHLEEN GALLAGHER
RUSSELL D. GIANCOLA
PORTER WRIGHT MORRIS
& ARTHUR LLP
6 PPG Place, Third Floor
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Phone: (412) 235-4500
JOHN M. GORE
Counsel of Record
ALEX POTAPOV
JONES DAY
51 Louisiana Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: (202) 879-3939
jmgore@jonesday.com
Counsel for Applicant
Whether recent changes to Arizona's election procedures – which provide both absentee voters whose signatures on their mail-in ballots cannot be verified, and in-person voters who cannot provide proper identification at the polls, up to five days after Election Day to remedy their ballot identification issues – must also be extended to absentee voters who submit unsigned ballots.
https://web.archive.org/web/20201116052315/https://www.democracydocket.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/41/2020/06/AZ_Filed_Complaint.pdf
https://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/20A84.pdf
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
The Arizona Democratic Party
The Democratic National Committee;
DSCC
Comments
Issues: Whether recent changes to Arizona's election procedures – which provide both absentee voters whose signatures on their mail-in ballots cannot be verified, and in-person voters who cannot provide proper identification at the polls, up to five days after Election Day to remedy their ballot identification issues – must also be extended to absentee voters who submit unsigned ballots.
Arizona allows all voters to vote by mail without an excuse in the 27 days leading up to an election. In June, the Arizona Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee filed a lawsuit against Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs in federal court in Arizona. They challenged the state’s requirement that voters who forget to sign their mail-in ballots fix the mistake by Election Day, rather than within five days after the election, which is the deadline when the state determines that a voter’s signature on a mail-in ballot doesn’t match the one on file. Observing that in “recent general elections, a significant number of mail ballots have been rejected in Arizona for missing signatures,” the ADP argued that missing signatures could create even more problems this year because of the current delays in mail delivery. Voters may send in their ballots on time, the ADP contended, but if they neglect to sign their ballots, “through the vagaries of mail delivery that are entirely outside their control,” they may not be able to provide a signature by Election Day so that their ballots can be counted.
U.S. District Judge Douglas Rayes ruled for the ADP on September 10. He concluded that the state’s Election-Day deadline for voters to supply a missing signature “imposes minimal but unjustifiable burdens on the right to vote” and does not do enough to protect the rights of voters, especially voters who submit their ballots so close to Election Day that they may not have time to correct a missing signature. Rayes ordered election officials to give voters who forget to sign their ballots five days after Election Day to provide the missing signature.
Rayes rejected a request from Arizona, the Republican National Committee, the Arizona Republican Party and the Trump campaign (all of which had intervened in the case) to put his ruling on hold while they appeal. Rayes acknowledged that the issues in the case “are difficult and fairly contestable,” but he also observed that “the State’s chief election officer” – Hobbs, who is a Democrat – had “welcomed” his order.
The intervenors went to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, asking that court to fast-track their appeal so that they could “seek relief from the U.S. Supreme Court before the general election if necessary.”
The 9th Circuit on Oct. 6 granted the state’s request to put Rayes’ order on hold while the state’s appeal is litigated. The court of appeals concluded that the requirement that voters supply a missing signature by Election Day imposes only a “minimal” burden. By contrast, the court concluded, “as we rapidly approach the election, the public interest is well served by preserving Arizona’s existing election laws, rather than by sending the State scrambling to implement and to administer a new procedure for curing unsigned ballots at the eleventh hour.” This is particularly true, the court noted, when the Supreme Court has repeatedly admonished the lower federal courts not to change the rules of an election in the run-up to that election.