Arizona Republic: “A Maricopa County Superior Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit involving GOP activists’ quest to redo the Arizona Republican Party’s election of officers over what they deemed various irregularities during the Jan. 23 vote. Judge Michael Kemp agreed with the state party’s attorney that the dispute is limited to internal political party elections – not public elections – and cannot be decided in a court of law. The ruling is a victory for state party officials who have downplayed problems in the election and have cast the activists as the disgruntled opponents of state GOP Chair Kelli Ward and her brand of politics. ‘Whether or not any chicanery took place in the voting process on January 23, this Court finds that it does not have judicial authority to intervene in an inter-party dispute that is guided by rules and procedures agreed upon by an independent political party,’ Kemp wrote. In his ruling, which appeared electronically Monday, Kemp said the case presented a ‘non-justiciable’ internal political dispute. He noted that political parties are distinct from other private groups and are subject to less judicial scrutiny than others.”

“Two GOP activists, Bill Beard and Sandra Dowling, helped spearhead support to redo the election after Ward and state party officials would not heed repeated calls to audit the results and procedures, even as she made similar demands after former President Donald Trump’s loss to President Joe Biden. Ward narrowly won re-election in a race that went to a run-off. She and state party officials claimed the activists had not gathered enough signatures to force another election and accused the activists of tricking people into signing onto their effort. Arizona Republican Party representatives said they reviewed the signatures presented by the activists and found some were duplicative or ineligible. Others asked that their names be removed.”