More drama around the EPM
Secretary of State Adrian Fontes responds to two fringe state lawmakers about their Elections Procedure Manual complaints.
Last week, mere days into the 2023 legislative session and the new statewide administrations, two fringe Republican lawmakers –– Jacqueline Parker and Alex Kolodin –– already complained to newly-elected Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, about the Elections Procedures Manual.
Both Parker and Kolodin of course believe in stolen election bullshit. Both are also attorneys1 at the same firm, Davillier Law Group, and Kolodin notably has represented clients2 in multiple failed lawsuits about the state’s election system and was fired by Cyber Ninjas back in 2021 because he did a terrible job representing the now defunct company.
So it should come as no surprise the two are already on their high horses trying to fuck with election laws in the state. It’s the first salvo in what will be a long two years under their chairman and vice-chairmanship on the Municipal Oversight & Elections Committee. Meaning they (along with Wendy Rogers in the Senate) have control over elections related bills.3
In their complaint they whine about then-Secretary Katie Hobbs following her duties to update the EPM in off-election years, but her changes in 2021 were never implemented because former AG Mark Brnovich did not approve them and even sued Hobbs over them in what he deemed to be a friendly court of his choosing all while running for the U.S. Senate where he eventually placed in a distant third.
Already off to a good start, which Fontes notes in his January 24 response that I obtained through a public records request.
It should be noted, now that the governor and attorney general share the same party representation as the secretary of state –– both offices must approve the EPM for it to be implemented; Ducey cowered away from any conflict in 2021 deferring to Brnovich getting in the way) –– it’s more likely to not face partisan issues.
There isn’t much in Fontes’ response other than attempts to be civil. He reiterates one point a few times: that he is starting from scratch in the 2014 version of the EPM and then implementing all statutory changes over the past several years and working from there.
“I have instructed my staff to begin our draft EPM using the 2014 approved EPM and proceed with incorporating each subsequent year's laws to that version as a starting point to the 2023 draft EPM. It is my goal to ensure that only provisions supported by statute go into my administration's EPM,” he wrote to Parker and Kolodin.
See his full response here.
I haven’t checked in a while, but Kolodin was (or still is) the subject of a multi-year State Bar investigation over his frivolous lawsuits.
One of the lawsuits was the idiotic claim that voting by mail was unconstitutional. Of course, Kolodin had previously voted by mail.
Of course some bills could get assigned to other committees to go around Parker and Rogers, but that’s up to the leaders in each chamber. Governor Hobbs could always use that as a bargaining chip with Senate President Warren Petersen or House Speaker Ben Toma if necessary, but who knows how receptive they would be.