unanimously affirmed by an en banc panel of the Arizona Supreme Court on expedited review.[1]
Here, Plaintiffs’ Complaint similarly relies upon A.R.S. § 16-672 and its provisions related to bringing suit for alleged election misconduct, including illegal votes and erroneous counting. (Doc. 1 at ¶ 15). A.R.S. § 16-672 also provides that an elections contest brought under this statute should be filed in the superior court of the county in which the person contesting resides or in the superior court of Maricopa county. A.R.S. § 16-672(B). Plaintiffs aver that their claims seek federal action under federal statutes, and therefore, their claims are distinguishable from the claims being litigated in the state court. The Court disagrees.
Generally, a federal court has a duty to exercise the jurisdiction conferred by Congress. However, under certain circumstances, it is prudent for a federal court to abstain from hearing a matter. “Indeed, we have held that federal courts may decline to exercise its jurisdiction, in otherwise ‘exceptional circumstances,’ where denying a federal forum would clearly serve an important countervailing interest.” Quackenbush v. Allstate Ins.
- ↑ “The Court concludes, unanimously, that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in denying the request to continue the hearing and permit additional inspection of the ballots.” Ward, CV 2020-015285, at *7 (Ariz. 2020); (Doc. 81-1).
them should have been brought at a time when any legal deficiencies could have been cured,” and citing Lubin v. Thomas, 144 P.3d 510, 511 (Ariz. 2006) (“In the context of election matters, the laches doctrine seeks to prevent dilatory conduct and will bar a claim if a party’s unreasonable delay prejudices the opposing party or the administration of justice.”). Second, Ward alleged that “election officials overcounted mail-in ballots by not being sufficiently skeptical in their comparison of signatures on the mail-in envelope/affidavits with signatures on file.” The state court allowed Ward to examine a sampling of mail-in ballots, and the court held that “[t]he evidence does not show that these affidavits are fraudulent, or that someone other than the voter signed them. There is no evidence that the manner in which signatures were reviewed was designed to benefit one candidate or another, or that there was any misconduct, impropriety, or violation of Arizona law with respect to the review of mail-in ballots.” Lastly, Ward alleged errors with duplication of ballots. The state court also allowed Ward to examine a sampling of duplicate ballots and held that ‘[t]he duplication process prescribed by the Legislature necessarily requires manual action and human judgment, which entail a risk of human error. Despite that, the duplication process for the presidential election was 99.45% accurate. And there is no evidence that the inaccuracies were intentional or part of a fraudulent scheme. They were mistakes. And given both the small number of duplicate ballots and the low error rate, the evidence does not show any impact on the outcome.” The state court concluded by holding that “[t]he Court finds no misconduct, no fraud, and no effect on the outcome of the election.” Ward, CV 2020-015285 (Ariz. Super. Ct. Dec. 4, 2020); (Doc. 58-1).
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