{"id":2293259,"date":"2024-07-12T07:20:01","date_gmt":"2024-07-12T11:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/suit-az-election-manual-criminalizes-speech-disenfranchises-voters\/"},"modified":"2024-07-12T07:23:01","modified_gmt":"2024-07-12T11:23:01","slug":"suit-az-election-manual-criminalizes-speech-disenfranchises-voters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/suit-az-election-manual-criminalizes-speech-disenfranchises-voters\/","title":{"rendered":"Suit: AZ Election Manual Criminalizes Speech, Disenfranchises Voters"},"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\">16<\/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%2Fsuit-az-election-manual-criminalizes-speech-disenfranchises-voters%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=2293259&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--><p>A \u200clawsuit filed in Arizona alleges that the state&#8217;s\u200b guidance for election workers\u2063 violates Americans&#8217; First Amendment right to free speech and \u2063may disenfranchise voters. The lawsuit challenges provisions in the Election Procedures\u200b Manual issued by Secretary of \u2062State Adrian Fontes and approved by Governor Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes. \u200bThese <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/major-university-athletic-directors-urge-congress-to-pass-nil-legislation-wild-west\/\" title=\"University athletic directors are urging Congress to pass NIL legislation to prevent a &quot;Wild West&quot; scenario.\">provisions\u200b include<\/a> a &#8220;vote \u2064nullification provision&#8221; that could lead to the disenfranchisement of voters \u200cin counties where election results \u200dare not\u2064 certified, and a &#8220;speech restriction&#8221; that\u200d criminalizes \u2064certain\u2064 activities related to voter intimidation. The lawsuit argues that these\u2063 guidelines are extreme and impose an unconstitutional \u200dburden on\u200d the\u200b right to vote.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Arizona\u2019s guidance for election workers violates Americans\u2019 First Amendment right to free speech and may disenfranchise voters, a lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges.<\/p>\n<p>Brought against Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, Gov. Katie Hobbs, and Attorney General Kris Mayes in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, the <a href=\"https:\/\/americafirstpolicy.com\/assets\/uploads\/files\/DKT_01_07.08.2024_Complaint_2_.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">suit<\/a> challenges provisions included in the latest iteration of the Election Procedures Manual (EPM), which provides guidance for election officials relating to mail ballots, voter registration, and other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/alfa-bank-investigator-under-fbi-review\/\" title=\"Alfa Bank Investigator Under FBI Review\">election-related matters<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azleg.gov\/ars\/16\/00452.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">State law<\/a> requires the manual to be issued by the secretary of state on Dec. 31 of every odd-numbered year and reviewed by Arizona\u2019s governor and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-ag-barr-authorizes-federal-prosecutors-to-pursue-substantial-allegations-of-voting-irregularities-before-2020-election-is-certified\/\" title=\"BREAKING: AG Barr Authorizes Federal Prosecutors to Pursue &quot;Substantial Allegations&quot; of Voting Irregularities Before 2020 Election is Certified\">attorney general<\/a> before finalization.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit was filed by the America First Policy Institute, American Encore, and Arizona resident Karen Glennon. <\/p>\n<p>Plaintiffs contend that the Fontes-devised EPM <a href=\"https:\/\/azsos.gov\/elections\/about-elections\/elections-procedures\/elections-procedures-manual\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">approved<\/a> by Hobbs and Mayes in December 2023 includes two guidelines that violate the U.S. Constitution. The first is a \u201cvote nullification provision,\u201d which stipulates that \u201c[i]f the official canvass of any county has not been received by [the] deadline, the Secretary of State must proceed with the state canvass without including the votes of the missing county.\u201d In other words, all votes cast by electors in a county in which the Board of Supervisors declines to certify the election results will not be counted in the state\u2019s final canvass. <\/p>\n<p>Plaintiffs argue this provision \u201cmandates the <em>complete disenfranchisement<\/em> of every voter in that county\u201d and \u201cdoes so even where the voters in that county themselves are entirely faultless and have complied with <em>all<\/em> requirements for exercising their constitutional right to vote.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe power conferred upon Boards of Supervisors under the Vote Nullification Provision is particularly problematic and vast given Arizona\u2019s status nationally as both a swing and potentially tipping-point state,\u201d the lawsuit reads. \u201cIf Arizona\u2019s electoral votes were decisive in the 2024 elections, one or more Boards of Supervisors would potentially wield the power to determine the next President of the United States simply by sitting on their hands and refusing to come to work for a few days during the canvas process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Plaintiffs claim Fontes devised the provision to deter what happened during the state\u2019s 2022 midterms, in which the two Republican members of the Cochise County Board of Supervisors <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/politics\/republican-controlled-arizona-county-refuses-to-certify-2022-election\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">delayed<\/a> certifying the locality\u2019s election results following voters\u2019 complaints about Maricopa County\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/11\/23\/maricopa-county-made-arizonas-elections-even-more-of-a-disaster-than-people-realize\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">disastrous Election Day administration<\/a>. While the board ultimately <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/2022-midterm-elections-cochise-county-arizona-election-results-certification\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">certified<\/a> the county\u2019s election results, it didn\u2019t stop Mayes from launching an investigation into and subsequently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.votebeat.org\/arizona\/2023\/11\/29\/arizona-cochise-county-supervisors-indicted-refusing-certify-2022-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">indicting<\/a> the board\u2019s GOP members after she took office.<\/p>\n<p>Plaintiffs argue the guidance included in the EPM aimed at preventing a repeat of 2022 is \u201cextreme\u201d and violates the Constitution \u201cby imposing an unconstitutionally severe burden on the right to vote of U.S. citizens residing in Arizona.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The second provision challenged in the lawsuit is a \u201cspeech restriction,\u201d which, as plaintiffs describe, \u201cpurports to criminalize \u2018<em>any activity<\/em>\u2018 taken \u2018with the intent <em>or effect<\/em> of threatening, harassing, intimidating or coercing voters.&#8217;\u201d The guideline \u201cbroadens the scope of conduct criminally prohibited under\u201d state law and, plaintiffs allege, could be used to target Arizonans\u2019 First Amendment right to free speech. They also argue it could be weaponized to target individuals during periods when elections aren\u2019t occurring in the state and areas outside election-related spaces.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Speech Restriction\u2019s use of amorphous, open-ended terms like \u2018insulting or offensive language\u2019 and \u2018harassing\u2019 do not provide reasonable guidance that would distinguish permissible and impermissible speech,\u201d the lawsuit reads. \u201cThe EPM does not provide any guidance as to how to apply its indeterminate terms and thus cannot be justified if the Speech Restriction were limited purely to the non-public forums of voting locations (instead of applying everywhere else in the State, as it does by its plain terms).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Plaintiffs have asked the district court to declare the aforementioned provisions unconstitutional and issue preliminary and permanent injunctions barring their enforcement. They\u2019ve also asked the court to issue an injunction requiring Fontes to amend, and Hobbs and Mayes to approve, the EPM to comply with the Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>Wednesday\u2019s lawsuit is one of <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/02\/12\/lawsuit-both-the-how-and-the-what-of-democrat-election-chiefs-rulebook-violate-arizona-law\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">several<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/arizona\/article_a1f02c38-c12f-11ee-b44b-f766878cd993.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">filed<\/a> by Arizona residents and conservative groups in recent months challenging provisions of Arizona\u2019s elections manual. <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A lawsuit filed on Wednesday alleges that Arizona&#8217;s guidance for election workers violates Americans&#8217; First Amendment right to free speech and may disenfranchise voters. The lawsuit, brought against Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, Gov. Katie Hobbs, and Attorney General Kris Mayes, challenges provisions in the Election Procedures Manual that provide guidance for election officials. The lawsuit was filed by the America First Policy Institute, American Encore, and Arizona resident Karen Glennon. The plaintiffs argue that two guidelines in the manual violate the U.S. Constitution, including a provision that could disenfranchise voters in counties where election results are not certified. They also challenge a provision that restricts speech related to threatening, harassing, intimidating, or coercing voters. The plaintiffs have asked the court to declare these provisions unconstitutional and issue injunctions barring their enforcement. This lawsuit is one of several challenging provisions of Arizona&#8217;s elections manual filed in recent months<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2293260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1200px-Entering_Arizona_on_I-10_Westbound.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[34771,34772,34773,5411],"class_list":["post-2293259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-az-election-manual","tag-criminalizes-speech","tag-disenfranchises-voters","tag-suit"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1200px-Entering_Arizona_on_I-10_Westbound.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2293259","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\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2293259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2293259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2293260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2293259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2293259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2293259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}