Arizona secretary of state modifies elections rulebook following Republican lawsuits

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes modified the state’s election rulebook to comply with a court ruling, removing a provision for certifying election results without every county’s compliance.

Fontes, a Democrat, had to contend with Republican legal challenges in 2024 stemming from his handling of the Election Procedures Manual — which serves as a guideline for how to run elections.

A new version of the EPM must be submitted and approved every two years. Over the past few election cycles, the manual has gotten more scrutiny.

“This manual has always been the backbone for how Arizona runs elections but in today’s environment it carries more weight than ever and what was once just a technical guide for elections officials is now a document that is rightly scrutinized by the public the press and the courts,” Fontes said in a video message.


https://www.kjzz.org/elections/2025-08-04/arizona-secretary-of-state-modifies-elections-rulebook-following-republican-lawsuits