Republicans failed to end mail-in voting in Arizona. But Secretary of State Katie Hobbs says they're 'laying the groundwork' to steal the 2024 election.

• An Arizona court has rejected Republican efforts to ban mail-in voting.
• The Arizona GOP had sued, claiming the state's 1991 voting laws were unconstitutional.

An Arizona judge has bluntly rejected Republican arguments that the state's system of mail-in voting is unconstitutional, but Secretary of State Katie Hobbs told Insider she expects the GOP to continue its "attacks" on voting rights.

In 1991, Arizona's legislature passed a law that allows any voter in the state to request an absentee ballot. Since then, the vast majority of voters have elected to do just that, with 89% of them choosing to cast a ballot by mail in 2020.

In February, however, the state Republican Party filed a lawsuit claiming that two decades of mail-in voting violated Arizona's founding document, Arizona Public Media reported.

"In-person voting at the polls on a fixed date (election day) is the only constitutional manner of voting in Arizona," the party argued in a petition demanding the system of mail-in voting be thrown out ahead of the 2022 election.

The lawsuit built upon unfounded claims, promoted by the party and former President Donald Trump as a means of explaining away the 2020 election results, that mail-in ballots facilitated massive fraud. Numerous audits, including a partisan review commissioned by Arizona's GOP-led Senate, have confirmed President Joe Biden's victory.

On Monday, Judge Lee F. Jantzen of the Mohave County Superior Court threw out the case.

In a five-page ruling, Jantzen — first appointed to his position by former Republican Gov. Jan Brewer — noted that the laws in question had been enforced as written for more than three decades.

"The laws are far from perfect and nobody anticipated thirty years ago that approximately 90 percent of Arizona voters would vote by mail-in ballot during a pandemic, but these laws are NOT in violation of the Arizona Constitution," Jantzen wrote.

He added that the laws allowing no-excuse and early mail-in voting were indeed consistent with the constitution's demands that Arizona citizens be allowed to vote and that their ballots be kept secret.

"Is the Arizona legislature prohibited by the Arizona Constitution from enacting voting laws that include no-excuse mail-in voting?" he asked. "The answer is no."

'Laying the groundwork'

Democrats praised the ruling. In a statement, state Sen. Raquel Terán, chair of the Arizona Democratic Party, praised the decision as a victory for democracy, describing the GOP lawsuit as "shameful, embarrassing, and unconstitutional."

The Arizona Republican Party did not respond to a request for comment.

In an interview, Secretary Hobbs — who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in the August 2 primary — told Insider the decision "is a victory for Arizona voters."

But, Hobbs argued, the GOP lawsuit could still incur damage to the integrity of the vote.

"It's so close to the election. Even if they aren't successful [in court], they might be successful in creating chaos and sowing doubt and making voters confused about how they can vote in the next election," Hobbs said. "I think as long as their party chair continues to tout the 'big lie' from the 2020 election, these attacks will continue."

While many in the Arizona GOP have questioned the outcome of the 2020 election, Republicans in the state legislature do not have enough votes to do away with mail-in ballots and early voting. That spurred the state party, chaired by ardent Trump ally Kelli Ward, to pursue the legal route instead.

Hobbs does not think they will accept defeat.

"They're trying to lay the groundwork," she said. "They're the ones claiming the election was stolen, but they're the ones who actually plan to steal it in '24. And the 2022 elections are going to have a big role in whether they're able to do that or not."

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