(C) Arizona Mirror This story was originally published by Arizona Mirror and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Republicans attack Arizona’s draft election procedures before final approval [1] ['Caitlin Sievers', 'Jen Fifield Votebeat', 'More From Author', 'September', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img'] Date: 2025-09-02 Republicans are already threatening to take Democratic Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes to court over provisions in his 2025 elections rulebook, even though text won’t be finalized until December. In the past few days, both Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen and state Rep. Alexander Kolodin released public statements heaping criticism on a draft version of the Election Procedures Manual, the state’s election rulebook which instructs county elections officials how to implement the state’s election laws. The EPM generally carries the force of law. “The Elections Procedures Manual cannot be used as a vehicle to rewrite Arizona law,” Petersen said in a statement. “This draft is filled with provisions that go far beyond the Secretary of State’s legal authority, and if they are not corrected before submission, litigation will follow.” Petersen denounced rules in the draft that he said would allow “apparent non-citizens” extended time to provide documents to prove citizenship, ignore ID requirements for voter registration forms and dilute political parties’ authority to select poll workers. He also took issue with what he characterized as provisions “forcing election officers to sign onto policies that compromise their constitutional rights,” and ”failing to implement robust ballot chain-of-custody requirements and observation rights.” The most recent version of the manual, which Fontes put out in 2023, was met with numerous lawsuits from Republicans — including Petersen — and Republican-affiliated groups. Some of those court challenges were successful, others were not, and some are currently in the appeals process. Fontes already deleted from the new draft some rules from the 2023 EPM in response to court decisions striking them down. Those included descriptions of behavior that could be considered voter intimidation that the courts ruled went beyond the scope of state law and granting the secretary of state authority to sign off on the state-wide election canvass, even if a county misses the deadline for its own canvass. Fontes released the EPM draft Aug. 1 and elicited public comment on it for 30 days, even though Fontes maintains that he isn’t legally required to do so. The courts have said otherwise, ruling earlier this year that Fontes broke the law by allowing inadequate public comment on the 2023 EPM. The secretary of state is required to publish a new version of the manual every two years. Kolodin, who is running against Fontes in the 2026 election for secretary of state and was sanctioned by the State Bar of Arizona for his role in lawsuits challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election, accused Fontes in an Aug. 29 letter of ignoring some of the court rulings striking down sections of the 2023 EPM. While Kolodin applauded the removal in the new draft of bans on political clothing at polling places, he wrote that the draft “still includes vague language on voter intimidation that could chill free speech at polling places and drop boxes.” He also bashed instructions in the new EPM draft for checking proof of documented citizenship that Kolodin claimed went beyond what Arizona law allows. “These flaws paint a picture of a manual more focused on advancing a partisan agenda when the law requires impartiality,” Kolodin wrote. “From the lingering free speech restrictions to the unauthorized tinkering with voter qualifications, it feels like the deck is being stacked against fair play.” Aaron Thacker, a spokesman for Fontes, told the Arizona Mirror that the criticism from Petersen and Kolodin amounted to “poorly timed political theater.” Kolodin’s four-page letter, for instance, mentioned farmers, small businesses and border security, in addition to detailed descriptions of what he characterized as illegal rules in the draft manual. Thacker pointed out that the manual will undergo edits in response to public comments, before being sent on Oct. 1 to Gov. Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes for additional edits and approval. They’re required to sign off on the final version by Dec. 31, but it’s unlikely that many of the changes they make will align with concerns from Petersen and Kolodin. “Our election laws are passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor – not invented by one officeholder,” Petersen, who is running for attorney general, wrote. “If the Secretary of State wants rules changed, he should propose legislation like everyone else. Until then, we will insist that Arizona’s election manual follow the law as written.” Thacker called the timing of the criticism “silly,” adding that “the product’s not even done yet, let the ink dry.” While the courts struck down some provisions in the 2023 EPM in response to lawsuits, they have also handed Fontes some wins. Just last week, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled in Fontes’ favor, saying that the documents the 2023 EPM instructed election workers to use to verify voter signature on mail-in ballots was not illegal. The three-judge panel wrote that Fontes had some discretion in interpreting state statutes for EPM instructions, or there would be no point in its existence. “The attorney general is not going to let anything go out (in the EPM) that’s unlawful,” Thacker told the Mirror. [END] --- [1] Url: https://azmirror.com/2025/09/02/republicans-attack-arizonas-draft-election-procedures-before-final-approval/ Published and (C) by Arizona Mirror Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/azmirror/