Arizona GOP Chair Files Lawsuit Seeking Phoenix Ballot Inspection

PHOENIX — Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking an inspection of mail-in ballot signatures and duplicated ballots in metro Phoenix, alleging that election officials didn’t give legal observers enough access to ballot processing.

The lawsuit filed against President-elect Joe Biden’s 11 electors in Arizona also alleged some suburbs on the southeastern edge of Maricopa County had an unusually high number of duplicated ballots — and that the election results in that area were “strongly inconsistent” with voter registration and historical voting data.

Ballots are duplicated when they are damaged or too illegible to run through a tabulator. The lawsuit alleged the software used in processing such electronic ballots was inaccurate and would “prefill” Biden’s name on ballots more often than it did President Donald Trump.

The suit said legal observers weren’t allowed to watch the ballot duplication.

The Maricopa County Elections Department and the Board of Supervisors confirmed at their Friday canvass that members of all three major political parties in the state were involved throughout the vote counting process.

The Biden campaign in Arizona declined to comment on the lawsuit, according to The Associated Press.

Ward’s lawsuit marks the fifth election challenge filed in Maricopa County since Nov. 3. The previous four cases were dismissed, including one filed by the Arizona Republican Party that sought to determine whether voting machines were hacked.

No evidence of fraud or hacking of voting machines has emerged during this election in Arizona. Maricopa County judges have dismissed four other lawsuit regarding alleged fraud brought by the Trump campaign and the Arizona Republican Party.

All counties in the state have certified their election results, and Arizona is set to certify on Monday.

The state GOP chief also is seeking a limited comparison of signatures on the envelopes from mail-in ballots against signatures on file to see whether ballots were falsely verified.

The suit said election officials wouldn’t let legal observers fully observe the signature verification process and instead made them remain at tables that were 10 to 12 feet away from computer monitors.

On Monday, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey acknowledged for the first time that Biden won Arizona.

The Associated Press contributed to this reporting.