Maricopa County's July primary election hit a snag as a judge ordered a halt to ballot printing amid a legal fight over a late Republican candidate addition. GOP members are pushing to get James Taylor on the ballot after Rep. Austin Smith, accused of petition forgery, bailed on the race for the Arizona House. The law says replacements must be named before the printing starts, a boat the Republicans nearly missed, by Maricopa County's timeline.
While Taylor's name was submitted on May 17, according to a report by Arizona Public Media, Rosa Aguilar, an attorney for Maricopa County, said the wheels were already turning. Ballots had been in the works since May 13, which she argues would cause "great harm" to the election timeline if interrupted. A delay, she claims, could lead to errors and missed deadlines for getting ballots to military and overseas voters by the June 15 cutoff.
Rep. Alexander Kolodin, a Maricopa County GOP gun, smells foul play. He points to the proof of the ballot that only reached the Maricopa County Republican Committee's chairman on May 23, casting doubt on the county's claims of having already begun printing ballots. People taking sides on the issue have been left scratching their heads as to who's playing politics with the printing press.
Caught in the middle of this heated dispute, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Joan Sinclair saw fit to call time-out on the presses. At this morning hearing, all evidence will be weighed to decide whether Taylor gets his name on the ballot or not. "It made sense to go ahead and have this stay to just stop so that we're not in a bigger hole than we are in right now," Sinclair explained, hoping the pause would prevent further complications.
