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ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESFifty-sixth Legislature First Regular Session |
House: MOE DP 6-4-0-0 |
HB 2233: election contests; procedures
Sponsor: Representative Harris, LD 13
Caucus & COW
Overview
Modifies the acceptable grounds in which a person may contest an election and outlines specified court procedures for related proceedings and the inspection of ballots before trial.
History
Provided the person has grounds to do so, an Arizona elector may contest the election of a person declared elected to a state office at a general election or declared nominated to a state office at a primary election. The declared result of initiated or referred measures, a proposal to amend the Constitution of Arizona or any other question or proposal submitted to a vote of the people may also be contested. Grounds for the contest of an election can include misconduct of candidates or elections officials, illegal votes or erroneous vote counts (A.R.S. § 16-672).
Once the statement of contest is filed and the action is at issue, both parties may have the ballots inspected before preparing for the trial. Upon the filing of specified documents with the clerk of the court, the court must appoint three persons to inspect the ballots: one selected by each party and one selected by the court. The inspection of ballots must be conducted in the presence of the legal custodian of the ballots (A.R.S. § 16-677).
A contest may be brought in either the superior court in which the person contesting the election resides or in the Maricopa County Superior Court. Appeals to superior court cases are generally heard in the Court of Appeals. An appeal to the Court of Appeals must be taken to the Supreme Court (A.R.S. §§ 12-120.21, 12-120.22).
Provisions
Contest of Election Proceedings
1. Increases the time period in which the court must hear a contest from 10 days after the statement of contest is filed to 20 days. (Sec. 2)
2. Requires all appeals of final judgements to be filed with and heard by the Arizona Supreme Court. (Sec. 2)
3. Establishes specified time frames in which an appeal, response and reply must be filed. (Sec. 2)
4. Specifies the Supreme Court must schedule a hearing within five days of the filing of the reply. (Sec. 2)
5. Requires the Supreme Court to render a decision within five days of the date of the hearing. (Sec. 2)
Inspection of Ballots before Trial
6. Defines, for the purposes of inspecting ballots, an organization or entity as a person. (Sec. 3)
7. Authorizes an organization or entity to provide for a rotating series of individuals to inspect ballots on behalf of the organization or entity. (Sec. 3)
8. Asserts that the parties have the right to physically examine specified materials and records. (Sec. 3)
9. Instructs the court to allow the parties ample time to examine the materials. (Sec. 3)
10. Establishes each party's right to full discovery on any matter that could pertain to the election in any way and requires a court to liberally construe this provision. (Sec. 3)
11. Allows each party to depose up to 10 people. (Sec. 3)
Miscellaneous
12. Includes, in the grounds upon which an Arizona elector may contest an election, votes in which the chain of custody is broken and early votes that have inconsistent signatures or personal information. (Sec. 1)
13. Makes technical changes. (Sec. 1, 2, 3)
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17. HB 2233
18. Initials JH Page 0 Caucus & COW
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