Arizona’s Republican Party chairwoman appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court as part of a long-shot effort to nullify Joe Biden’s victory there in the presidential election, according to a filing posted online by a Democratic lawyer.
The filing comes as the high court weighs a similarly improbable bid by Texas to invalidate voters’ selection of Biden in four pivotal states, and reverse President Donald Trump’s election defeat. The court could act at any point in that case.
The appeal by Arizona GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward says the state needs more time to conduct a new, larger examination of duplicates that were made of thousands of damaged ballots in the state’s largest county, Maricopa, which voted heavily for Biden.
The appeal asks the court to invalidate two key election dates under federal law, including Monday’s meeting of the Electoral College, which will formally select the next president. Arizona also says the court should strike down the Dec. 8 “safe harbor” deadline, which gave states a guarantee that Congress will accept their slates of electors if submitted on time after challenges have run their course.
Biden won 306 electoral votes and needs only 270 to become president. Arizona has 11 electoral votes.
The filing was posted by Democratic lawyer Marc Elias, who has been active in the post-election litigation. The case hasn’t yet been formally docketed at the Supreme Court.
