Do we or do we not have the right to challenge the results of elections? The Arizona Supreme Court just ruled that we do.

From Arizona Mirror. The Arizona Republican Party’s lawsuit challenging the post-election hand-count process in 2020 wasn’t groundless or filed in bad faith, and the party doesn’t have to pay attorney’s fees for the Secretary of State’s Office, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.

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The unanimous ruling overturns decisions by a trial court judge and the Arizona Court of Appeals that ordered the AZGOP — and its attorneys — to pay legal fees for the state to defend the case.

“By sanctioning parties and their lawyers for bringing debatable, long-shot complaints, courts risk chilling legal advocacy and citizens raising ‘questions’ under the guise of defending the rule of law,” Justice John Lopez wrote for the Supreme Court. “Even if done inadvertently and with the best of intentions, such sanctions present a real and present danger to the rule of law.” …

The lawsuit was filed more than a week after the 2020 election and argued that the state law requiring limited post-election hand-count audits conflicted with the state’s Elections Procedures Manual, making it illegal to select ballots for the audit from voting centers instead of by precinct.

State law requires each county to hand count 1% of all early ballots, as well as the ballots from 2% of precincts after each election. The Election Procedures Manual issued by the secretary of state permits counties that use voting centers instead of precincts, a list that includes Maricopa County, to hand count the ballots from 2% of voting centers instead.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge John Hannah dismantled the legal arguments that the AZGOP and its attorneys made. In addition to ignoring the law and the legislature’s intent when allowing for voting centers, Hannah said the Republican Party sought a remedy that the law doesn’t allow and waited far too long to file its suit.

The judge also said the party demonstrated it was not motivated by sincerely challenging a public policy, but instead by making a political case and sowing distrust about Arizona’s elections. …

The three-judge appeals panel unanimously agreed, writing that the AZGOP first sought to challenge the hand-count audit procedures but then dropped that in order to block Maricopa County from certifying its election results, belying the true purpose of the lawsuit. …

But the Supreme Court said both of the lower courts got it exactly wrong when they determined that the Arizona Republican Party’s lawsuit was both “groundless” and “not made in good faith.”

Writing for the unanimous court, Lopez said that the trial and appeals courts improperly concluded that, although the AZGOP’s arguments were “a long shot,” they raised valid questions about how post-election hand-counts are conducted under a vote center model and whether the Elections Procedures Manual conflicts with state law. …

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(Excerpt from Arizona Mirror. Photo Credit: Aramyan/Getty Images Pro via Canva Pro)