Arizona high court won’t fast-track Arizona AG’s election fight appeal

PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to fast-track an appeal from Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich after a judge sided with Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs over election rules.

The decision means there is unlikely to be time before the general election for court battles to play out on Brnovich’s appeal and updated 2019 election rules will remain in place for the general election.

A Yavapai County judge last month rejected Brnovich’s effort to order Hobbs to do a major rewrite of a nearly 300-page document she wrote telling county election officials how to manage the 2022 elections.

The judge said Brnovich had waited so long to sue over his perceived problems with the manual that he could not order the few changes that may be merited.

Judge John Napper instead sided with Hobbs and GOP Gov. Doug Ducey’s position and said the last manual approved by all three in 2019 would be in effect for the upcoming elections.

Brnovich has not filed a formal appeal, but asked the Arizona Supreme Court to let him bypass the court of appeals to the high court could hear the case quickly and act before the November elections.

The Supreme Court said it had considered Brnovich’s request and determined it did not meet the standards for bypassing the lower appeals court.