PHOENIX — The Arizona Democratic Party is moving to defend elected Republican officials in Maricopa County from a lawsuit filed against them by their own party.
There is no legal basis for demands by the state and national GOP that the county change the rules for seasonal election workers to help attract more Republicans, attorney Daniel Arellano says in a new court filing.
The lawyers for the GOP contend that it is things like the hours required that deters party members from signing up. And they want Maricopa County Superior Court Judge John Hannah to order the Republican-controlled Board of Supervisors and Stephen Richer, the Republican county recorder, to make adjustments.
“But plaintiffs fail to explain why these requirements make it harder for only plaintiffs to find enough members willing to do the job, when the rules apply equally to poll workers appointed by both major parties,” Arellano said.
He acknowledged that political parties have legal rights to designate appointees to various election boards. But that, Arellano told the judge, does not mean the Republicans are entitled to demand new rules because they can’t find enough people to serve.
“They identify no legal basis for their startling assertion that those designees are exempt from the county’s generally applicable requirements for the positions to which they are appointed, or that the county is somehow required to alter those requirements to make those positions more palatable to designees who are unwilling or unable to serve,” he said.
The lawsuit by the Republicans, filed earlier this month, is currently limited to Maricopa County. But a ruling in the party’s favor could pave the way for similar claims elsewhere where the GOP cannot find sufficient party members willing to serve.
It also comes as state party officials, including Kelli Ward, who is the chair, continue to question the outcome of the 2020 election, though the new lawsuit does not seek to link the outcome — and the fact that the official results show Joe Biden outpolling Donald Trump both in Maricopa County and statewide — with the issue of whether the GOP has enough poll workers.
At the heart of the lawsuit by the Arizona Republican Party and the Republican National Committee is the contention that Maricopa County is not complying with requirements to have inspectors from both political parties at polling places. Similar requirements exist, the lawsuit says, for the boards that oversee processing of early ballots, vote adjudication boards and the boards that oversee operations at county election headquarters.
What that resulted in, attorneys for the party charge, is the county hiring 857 Democratic poll workers but only 712 Republicans. And 11 county voting centers in the 2022 primary had no Republican poll workers at all.
County officials do not deny that some polling places were short of Republican watchers. But in a separate posting, the county Elections Department said it’s not because of the lack of efforts.
“Unfortunately, not all are willing or able to serve,” the agency said. And then there’s the problem of election workers quitting at the last minute.
But GOP attorneys say there’s a simple solution: Ease the hours that election workers are required to work and make other changes that make the job more attractive to the elderly and those with disabilities. And that’s what they want Hannah to order.
Arellano, however, is urging the judge to toss the lawsuit.
It starts, he said, with the fact the GOP waited until a month before the election to demand the changes.
“As Arizona courts have repeatedly recognized, such late-filed challenges to election procedures severely prejudice not only the parties, but also the courts and the voters of Arizona,” Arellano said.
Then there are the changes the GOP wants Hannah to order the county to make, particularly in the hours for election day.
County officials acknowledge poll workers have to show up at 5:30 a.m., a half hour before the doors open, and remain after the last votes are cast at 7 p.m. and the election materials are packed up.
“Telling such potential board members that they will not be appointed unless they agree to lengthy and onerous day and hour commitments screens out anyone with full-time employment or family commitments and thus many of the individuals the Republican Party has nominated,” the GOP lawsuit claims. What is also does, the lawyers say, is screen out many elderly and disabled people who would otherwise be willing to serve.
Arellano, however, said if the Republicans selected by the GOP to work the polls are unwilling to serve because of the hours, “that is a problem for plaintiffs to solve by designating election workers who are willing to do the job,” not by asking a judge to change the work schedule. And he told Hannah the Republicans provide no support for their argument that it is the hours that keep party faithful from working.
“Nor do they explain why Maricopa’s hour requirements deter Republicans more than board nominees from other political parties,” Arellano said.
He also noted there are more than 100,000 more registered Republicans in the county than Democrats, yet the Democrats “have managed to designate poll workers who will do the job.
“If plaintiffs have struggled to do the same, the answer is for plaintiffs to improve their recruiting efforts, not to judicially mandate that the county change its job requirements for election boards,” Arellano said.
There would be “many logistical and operational issues” with shorter shifts on Election Day, said Megan Gilbertson, spokeswoman for the recorder’s office.
For example, she said, the county planned to hire 2,148 poll workers for the August primary. Two shifts would have required 4,296.
“Double the amount of poll workers would require more trainers and the ability to secure more training space,” Gilbertson said. Then there’s the fact that some poll workers quit in the final few days before Election Day due to illness, family emergencies or other situations.
“Partially staffed vote centers combined with a lack of experience because they wouldn’t have as much time in the job creates a significant risk for errors and points of failure, including the likelihood of longer lines,” she said.
No date has been set for a hearing.
