Brnovich asks Cochise County prosecutor to investigate Hobbs

PHOENIX — The state’s attorney general is asking Cochise County’s prosecutor to launch a criminal probe into whether Secretary of State Katie Hobbs broke the law.

The move came late Tuesday, after Hobbs ignored prior warnings from Attorney General Mark Brnovich that it would be illegal for her to shut down part of the E-Qual system where candidates can gather signatures online for their nominating petitions.

Hobbs said the temporary shutdown was necessary to update some data due to redistricting. Effective March 17, her office disabled the section for legislative and congressional candidates, even though their April 4 deadline for signatures is approaching.

Now Brnovich wants Cochise County Attorney Brian McIntyre, a fellow Republican, to see if any laws were broken.

Since he did so on Tuesday, however, Hobbs said she and county election officials managed to complete the update and the system is back online and fully functional.

That may not end the matter. McIntyre told Capitol Media Services on Thursday he cannot comment. “We will take all of the facts into consideration in our review,’’ he said.

Brnovich told McIntyre in a letter Tuesday that he gets to operate “independently of the attorney general’s office in determining what actions are appropriate to resolve this matter.’’

But he gave McIntyre a head start by laying out the laws he says are at issue in determining whether criminal charges should be brought.

Hobbs said she is reviewing the letter. But she also took a slap at Brnovich.

“The attorney general’s continued attacks on election officials across the state for doing our jobs is ridiculous,’’ she said.

Brnovich spokeswoman Katie Conner said the office does not comment on why it refers cases out to other prosecutors instead of handling them in house.

But she said the decision to send the issue to McIntyre is “unrelated’’ to the history between Brnovich, who is running for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, and Hobbs, a Democrat who is running for governor.

Conner said it’s also unrelated to the fact that Brnovich entered into a “diversion agreement’’ with the State Bar of Arizona to settle complaints, including one by Hobbs, that it was unethical for him to represent her office but then take contrary legal positions.

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Hobbs: Redistricting forced update

The E-Qual system, established in 2011, allows candidates to get signatures they need for nomination online. Normally there are no major issues.

This year, however, the Independent Redistricting Commission drew new lines for legislative and congressional candidates.

Hobbs said that required her to take the system offline to account for those new districts. The voter registration system — which determines if signers live within the districts of those they are supporting — cannot accommodate more than one set of maps. That means the system was temporarily not available for those running for Congress or the Legislature; it remained accessible for candidates seeking statewide office who are unaffected by redistricting.

As Hobbs was preparing to take it down, Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Wright wrote to her warning that any move to do so would be “contrary to law.”

The letter floated the possibility Hobbs could be charged with a Class 3 misdemeanor — and jailed for up to 30 days and fined $500 — for knowingly refusing to perform a duty required under state election laws. Wright said the refusal to keep E-Qual online could even be a felony that carries a penalty of a year in state prison.

Hobbs, in turn, filed a lawsuit asking a court to block Brnovich from initiating any prosecution.

But Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Joan Sinclair refused, saying Wright’s letter simply informed Hobbs of the legal requirements for E-Qual. The judge said that unless and until Brnovich took action, there was nothing for her to block.

Now the prosecution decision has been farmed out to McIntyre.

Brnovich also said he will send McIntyre copies of “multiple written complaints’’ his office got after Hobbs shut down the E-Qual system for congressional and legislative candidates.

He did not set a deadline for McIntyre to complete his probe.