{"id":2024078,"date":"2023-09-06T21:55:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T01:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/court-finds-arizonas-signature-matching-process-unlawful-in-massive-win-for-election-integrity\/"},"modified":"2023-09-06T21:59:13","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T01:59:13","slug":"court-finds-arizonas-signature-matching-process-unlawful-in-massive-win-for-election-integrity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/court-finds-arizonas-signature-matching-process-unlawful-in-massive-win-for-election-integrity\/","title":{"rendered":"Arizona court declares signature matching process illegal, a major victory for election integrity."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcourt-finds-arizonas-signature-matching-process-unlawful-in-massive-win-for-election-integrity%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2024078&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div data-post-content=\"true\" class=\"post_content\" id=\"post_content\">\n<p>A judge has delivered a &#8220;massive win&#8221; for election integrity in Arizona\u2063 by \u2064ruling that the state&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-pound-sand-desantis-issues-election-integrity-proposals\/\" title=\"WATCH: \u2018Pound Sand\u2019: DeSantis Issues Election Integrity Proposals\">signature matching process<\/a> \u2062for mail-in ballots is unlawful.<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>Yavapai County Superior\u200b Court Judge John Napper issued a\u2062 ruling last week\u200d (<a href=\"https:\/\/riteusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Superior-Court-State-of-Arizona-County-of-Yavapai-RITE-v.-Fontes.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pdf<\/a>) in a\u2062 lawsuit against Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes\u200b brought by \u200bpublic interest group Restoring Integrity and \u200dTrust\u200b in Elections (RITE), which alleged that Mr.\u2063 Fontes broke the\u200c law regarding\u200c mail-in ballot signature verification \u200bprocedures.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n<p>According to the lawsuit, the group argued that \u2064Mr. Fontes&#8217; interpretation of &#8220;registration record&#8221; in the Secretary of State&#8217;s\u200c Elections Procedures\u2063 Manual was\u200b unreasonably \u2064broad and\u2063 increased the risk of false positives\u2063 in signature\u2064 verification.<\/p>\n<div class=\"shortcode\">\n<div class=\"border-comp-divider mb-4 mr-4 w-full max-w-[500px] border px-5 py-4 text-[16px] leading-[20px] text-[#262626] md:float-left\" id=\"in_article_related_stories\">\n<div class=\"mb-3 font-sans text-[16px] font-semibold uppercase leading-[19px] text-[#2F2F2F]\">Related Stories<\/div>\n<div class=\"mb-4 flex gap-2\">\n<div class=\"grow\">\n<div class=\"mb-1 line-clamp-2\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/maricopa-gop-loses-bid-to-run-its-own-presidential-primary-in-arizona-5485455\">Maricopa GOP Loses\u2063 Bid to \u2063Run Its\u2064 Own \u200dPresidential Preference Election in Arizona<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"text-comp-caption text-[14px] leading-[18px]\">9\/2\/2023<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"shrink-0 basis-[120px]\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/maricopa-gop-loses-bid-to-run-its-own-presidential-primary-in-arizona-5485455\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mb-4 flex gap-2\">\n<div class=\"grow\">\n<div class=\"mb-1 line-clamp-2\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/iowa-man-gets-prison-for-threatening-calls-to-arizona-election-officials-5485181\">Iowa Man Gets Prison for Threatening Calls to Arizona Election Officials<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"text-comp-caption text-[14px] leading-[18px]\">9\/1\/2023<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"shrink-0 basis-[120px]\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/iowa-man-gets-prison-for-threatening-calls-to-arizona-election-officials-5485181\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;While \u200d<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/court-finds-arizonas-signature-matching-process-unlawful-in-massive-win-for-election-integrity\/\" title=\"Arizona court declares signature matching process illegal, a major victory for election integrity.\">state law \u200crequires county recorders<\/a> \u2062to match mail-ballot signatures with signatures in the \u2064voter\u2019s \u2018registration record,\u2019 the Secretary\u2062 instructed them to\u2062 use a broader\u200d and less reliable universe \u2063of comparison signatures,&#8221; said Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections (RITE) in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Kari \u2063Lake, a former \u2062gubernatorial\u200d candidate who sued\u2062 Mr. Fontes and Maricopa County officials over the signature verification process, celebrated the decision.<\/p>\n<div class=\"shortcode post-related-videos\">\n<div class=\"lazyload-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"lazyload-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;A court just found\u200d that Arizona&#8217;s\u2063 signature matching\u200c process is UNLAWFUL,&#8221; said Kari Lake.<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;This is what happens when you don&#8217;t back down from \u2062a fight,&#8221; said the Kari \u200dLake\u2062 War Room account in a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KariLakeWarRoom\/status\/1699478882079105407?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">post on\u200c X<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<p>Mr. Fontes&#8217; office did \u200bnot \u200bimmediately \u200brespond \u200cto a request for comment on the ruling.<\/p>\n<h2>Dispute Over &#8216;Registration \u2064Record&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p>Court documents show\u200d that \u200cMr. Fontes argued that\u200b the legal definition of &#8220;registration record&#8221; is ambiguous and so he is\u200d entitled to provide guidance\u2062 on its interpretation.<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;Does the \u2064legislature&#8217;s use of the \u200cexpansive term registration &#8216;record&#8217; \u200breally mean the more restrictive (but unused) term registration &#8216;form&#8217; for purposes of verifying a signature on an early voted ballot,&#8221; reads \u2064a motion to dismiss (<a href=\"https:\/\/riteusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/02-Secretary.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pdf<\/a>) the RITE \u2063lawsuit filed by Mr. Fontes&#8217; attorneys.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;The answer is \u2062&#8217;no,'&#8221; the attorneys\u200c argued, listing reasons that include the Secretary \u2064of State&#8217;s statutory authority to conduct elections \u200dfairly and impartially.<\/p>\n<p>But the judge disagreed \u2062with the reasoning.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This argument fails because there is no ambiguity\u200c in the statute,&#8221;\u200c Mr. Napper wrote in his opinion.<\/p>\n<p>He \u200dadded that the Arizona\u2062 &#8220;statute is clear and unambiguous&#8221; in\u2062 that\u2064 it requires the recorder to &#8220;review the voter&#8217;s registration card&#8221; and not other documents bearing the voter&#8217;s signature.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Napper also noted that Mr. Fontes&#8217;\u200d signature-matching process in \u2062the Election Procedures Manual &#8220;contradicts\u2063 the plain language&#8221; of Arizona\u2063 elections laws by allowing signature matching with documents that have &#8220;nothing to do with the act of registering.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Accordingly, the judge denied Mr. Fontes&#8217; motion to dismiss the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement, Derek Lyons, \u200bCEO of RITE, called the\u200c decision a &#8220;huge victory toward securing\u200c the elections\u2062 that Arizonans deserve, which are elections they can \u200ctrust.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;RITE \u200bwill build on this victory to \u2062continue \u2064to \u2063fight in court\u2063 for elections that are administered\u200b according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kurt-schlichter-weak-cons-and-libs-can-clutch-their-pearls-and-seethe\/\" title=\"Kurt Schlichter: Weak Cons and Libs Can Clutch Their Pearls and Seethe\">democratically enacted laws<\/a>, not illegal partisan commands,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p>The \u200bgroup said in a statement that the ruling shows that Mr. Fontes must change his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/99-99-accuracy-rate-raffensperger-says-signature-match-audit-found-no-evidence-of-voter-fraud-in-cobb-county-only-2-out-of-15118-signatures-identified-as-problem\/\" title=\"\u201c99.99% Accuracy Rate\u201d Raffensperger Says Signature Match Audit Found No Evidence of Voter Fraud in Cobb County \u2013 Only 2 Out of 15,118 Signatures Identified as Problem\">signature verification procedures<\/a> before\u2063 the next election to &#8220;protect\u200c the integrity of Arizona&#8217;s mail-in balloting process&#8221; or face further legal consequences.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s unclear whether the ruling will have any implications for Ms. Lake&#8217;s ongoing appeal against Mr. Fontes and Maricopa County officials over the signature\u200b verification process used in\u200b the\u200c previous gubernatorial election.<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<p>A judge in\u2064 May \u2064 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/judge-rules-against-kari-lake-in-election-lawsuit-confirms-katie-hobbs-as-arizona-governor-5284720\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dismissed<\/a> Ms. Lake&#8217;s lawsuit, but she filed an\u2062 appeal (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/649868265\/Lake-Notice-of-Appeal#\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pdf<\/a>), \u200cwhich \u200dis \u2064ongoing before the Arizona Court of Appeals.<\/p>\n<h2>Kari Lake Angle<\/h2>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<p>Election data from the November 2022 election shows that Ms. Lake \u2063was\u2064 behind Democrat Katie Hobbs\u2014who has since been declared Arizona governor\u2014by \u2064about 17,000 votes.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Ms. \u200cLake and her \u200dlegal team argued that there was a flood of mail-in ballots in \u2063Maricopa County at a time\u2064 when there were too \u2062few\u2062 workers to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kari-lake-says-big-announcement-coming-after-judge-rules-against-her-election-lawsuit\/\" title=\"Kari Lake to make major announcement post-election lawsuit loss.\">verify ballot signatures properly<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A judge ruled that Arizona&#8217;s mail-in ballot signature matching process is illegal, a significant victory for election integrity. The lawsuit against Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, filed by Restoring, resulted in the ruling by Yavapai County Superior Court Judge John Napper. This decision is seen as a major win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":2024079,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2024078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2024078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2024078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2024078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2024079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2024078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2024078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2024078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}