In a legal win for the Arizona Republican Party, the state Supreme Court reversed a lower court decision sanctioning the GOP over $27,000 after its unsuccessful efforts challenging Maricopa County election results during the 2020 election.
The Arizona Republican Party originally sued Maricopa County after the 2020 election, challenging its mandatory hand-count audit process.
The GOP alleged the audit process was improperly conducted due to the hand count using sample votes cast at centers open to all county voters, not from precincts, the Associated Press reported. The machine counts were 100% accurate, according to post-election tests.
The case was one of over 60 lawsuits challenging President Joe Biden’s victory over former President Donald Trump in 2020.
Judge John Hannah ruled the lawsuit was “meritless” in 2021 and ordered the state GOP to pay $18,000 in legal fees to the Secretary of State’s office.
The Arizona appeals court reaffirmed the decision in 2023, tacking on an additional $9,000 in sanctions.
“We hold that the attorney fees award was improper because Petitioners’ claim was not groundless, thus obviating any need to determine whether the claim was made in the absence of good faith,” Justice John Lopez wrote in the majority Republican Arizona Supreme Court’s unanimous decision.
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The state GOP praised the court’s decision in a statement, claiming that the ruling “reaffirms the fundamental legal principle that raising questions about the interpretation and application of election laws is a legitimate use of the judicial system, not a groundless or bad faith action.”
Biden narrowly won Arizona by 10,457 votes, or 0.3% of the vote, in 2020 — the first time a Democrat had done so since former President Bill Clinton in 1996.
