A federal judge on Friday night issued a ruling that blocks changes to the Election Procedures Manual (EPM) attempted by Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes that would have restricted speech and potentially forfeited votes from entire counties who declined to comply with deadlines set by the state.
U.S. District Court Judge Michael Liburdi (pictured above), who was nominated by former President Donald Trump, temporarily blocked Fontes’ proposed rule change that would give his office the power to decline to accept the votes from an Arizona county that refused to certify its ballots, even if local officials presented concerns about fraud.
This rule, Liburdi wrote, would give Fontes’ office “nearly carte blanche authority to disenfranchise the ballots of potentially millions of Arizona voters,” giving the court cause to act immediately and prevent the enforcement of that element of Arizona’s EPM, which is used to train poll workers and conduct elections.
Liburdi also barred Fontes (pictured here) from enacting any new rules about speech because the EPM fails to delineate that its speech rules only apply to polling locations and a 75-foot perimeter around them.
The lawsuit remains ongoing, but Liburdi’s order will prevent Fontes from enforcing key parts of his EPM on Election Day. It was filed by American Encore, America First Policy Institute, and an Arizona voters against Fontes and Arizona Attorney General Kris Hobbs.
