Arizona Supreme Court Will Review Appeal In GOP Election Lawsuit

PHOENIX — The Arizona Supreme Court has agreed to review an expedited appeal in the Arizona Republican Party's efforts to overturn the state's election results.

Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward filed an appeal late Friday after Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Steven Warner dismissed her lawsuit regarding duplicate ballots. Ward claimed that errors with duplicated ballots offer proof that the election should be overturned and the state's 11 Electoral College votes should go to President Donald Trump.

The Arizona Supreme Court ordered both defendants and plaintiffs to file written briefs in the appeal no later than noon on Monday. There will be no oral arguments in the expedited case. The Electoral College is set to meet on Dec. 14.

A court-ordered sampling of 1,626 duplicated ballots found Trump lost seven votes due to errors in ballot processing in Maricopa County. An Arizona official estimated that the errors could have resulted in 103 votes that should have gone to Trump. President-elect Joe Biden won the state by over 10,000 votes and Arizona certified the results on Nov. 30.

In his decision, Warner wrote that Ward "has not proven that the Biden/Harris ticket did not receive the highest number of votes."

Warner went on to write that "The Court finds no misconduct, no fraud, and no effect on the outcome of the election."

Ward's lawsuit was the fifth to be dismissed in the county. To date, no evidence of voter or election fraud has been found.

But not all Republicans are on board with the ongoing litigation. Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers broke ranks with his party Friday, affirming that the Legislature will not call a special session to overturn the election..

"As a conservative Republican, I don't like the results of the presidential election," Bowers wrote. "I voted for President Trump and worked hard to reelect him. But I cannot and will not entertain a suggestion that we violate current law to change the outcome of a certified election."