In an awesome win for conservatives and election integrity in November’s elections, a federal judge has barred liberal Arizona Democrat Secretary of State Adrian Fontes from putting into practice new rules he inserted into the state’s official procedures on the state’s canvassing process of election results. And the judge did, indeed, compare it to nukes. More on that in a minute.
Howard Fischer from Capitol Media Services has the scoop on Friday’s ruling:
PHOENIX — Calling what Secretary of State Adrian Fontes proposed “utterly without precedent” and comparing it to a nuclear weapon, a federal judge blocked him from refusing to include a county’s vote in the statewide totals if local supervisors fail to certify the election’s results.
In the ruling late Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Liburdi acknowledged there was at least one attempt in the past by a board of supervisors to delay certification. That action threatened to hold up the formal canvass of all the votes throughout the state and to change the outcomes of some races.
But Liburdi said the solution Fontes incorporated in Arizona’s Elections Procedures Manual — allowing him to skip over uncertified votes simply to finalize the state results — would unfairly and illegally disenfranchise the voters who had cast their ballots.