The Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Republican Party of Arizona (RPAZ) filed two lawsuits against Maricopa County, Arizona, on Tuesday after weeks of contesting its policies of favoring Democrat poll workers over Republicans ahead of the 2022 mid-term elections.
In September, the RNC issued a letter to Maricopa County demanding answers as to why it appointed fewer Republican poll workers in violation of Arizona law, which requires election officials to hire an “equal number” poll workers from both parties. Only 712 Republican poll workers were hired as opposed to the 857 Democrats. As Breitbart News reported at the time:
While Maricopa county hired 857 Democrat poll workers, the county only had 712 Republicans.
Although Maricopa County Republican Committee chairwoman Mickie Niland provided the county with a list of ‘several hundred’ Republican poll worker names ahead of the primary election, the letter revealed that 11 vote centers ended up with no GOP election inspectors at all.
The letter from RNC attorney Eric H. Spencer also noted the “significant disparity between political parties in the central processing boards utilized at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center (MCTEC) during the primary.”
Just 10 Republican poll workers were allowed on the “receiving/inspection boards” versus 58 Democrats, which would appear to violate the state’s procedures manual that requires each central board to be “comprised of two members of different political parties.”
To make matters worse, Republicans aiming to become poll workers were reportedly subjected to a far more rigorous regimen than their Democrat counterparts.
“Rigorous working conditions are not uncommon during an election, but the County has artificially limited its pool of board workers (especially Republican board workers) by refusing to allow more manageable shifts,” wrote Spencer.
In a statement to Breitbart News, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and RPAZ Chairwoman Dr. Kelli Ward said that Maricopa County left them no choice but to file a lawsuit – after weeks of negotiations – now that the midterm elections are 35 days away. The statement said:
After several weeks of negotiations, Maricopa County left us no choice but to sue because Arizonans who want to be poll workers shouldn’t be shut out of the process. With midterms just 35 days away, Arizonans deserve basic transparency about how their elections will be conducted. This legal offensive is the latest step in Republicans’ ongoing efforts to promote free, fair, and transparent elections in Arizona.
Since the letter from Eric H. Spencer on September 9, the RNC told Breitbart News that Maricopa County has “refused to cooperate with our request for transparency” and has not turned over “records related to the burdensome requirements imposed on election workers.”
“The letter was preceded by weeks of informal conversations between the RNC and the County regarding the types of documents and information the RNC sought from the County in connection with the hiring and composition of various election administration boards,” it told Breitbart News.
“On September 29, 2022, after receiving no records from the county, the RNC sent a second letter renewing the request for records and requesting further records related to the issue,” it added. “To date, the RNC has not received the requested records from the county.”
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