Appeals court rejects Republican challenge to the way Arizona verifies mail ballot signatures

An appeals court has dismissed a challenge from the Arizona Republican Party and its allies that aimed to change the way the state verifies voter signatures on mail-in ballots.

The Division Two Arizona Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the Republican Party, the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, and others who joined in the lawsuit, did not have legal standing to move forward with the challenge.

The Republican Party argued in 2023 to the Yavapai County Superior Court, and later to the three-judge appeals court panel, that state law allows only the signatures from voter registration forms to be used for comparison to verify voter signatures on vote-by-mail envelopes.

Attorney for the plaintiffs Kory Langhofer argued before the appeals court on Aug. 20 that Arizona had been improperly using signatures for comparison from other sources, like ballot envelopes and poll books, that voters had signed in previous elections. Election workers used those additional signatures based on instructions in 2019 and 2023 in Arizona’s elections rulebook — the Election Procedures Manual — written by the secretary of state.




https://azmirror.com/2025/08/29/appeals-court-rejects-republican-challenge-to-the-way-arizona-verifies-mail-ballot-signatures/