The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to consider a request to ban the use of electronic vote-counting machines in Arizona. The request was made by a Republican U.S. Senate candidate and a former Republican secretary of state candidate who filed a lawsuit two years ago, alleging security concerns with the machines that count votes.
The lawsuit was based on unfounded allegations and testimony from supporters of former President Donald Trump, including Doug Logan, the CEO of Cyber Ninjas, who led a discredited review of the election in Maricopa County.
A U.S. District Judge in Phoenix ruled that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue as they failed to demonstrate a realistic likelihood of harm. The judge later sanctioned their attorneys for bringing a claim based on frivolous information.
Both candidates, who had made baseless election fraud claims a focal point of their campaigns, went on to lose to Democrats and challenged the outcomes in court. The U.S. Senate candidate is now the GOP front-runner in Arizona, while the former secretary of state candidate is running for state Senate.
The plaintiffs argued that hand counts are the most efficient method for totaling election results. However, election administrators testified that hand counting millions of ballots for dozens of races would be impractical, requiring significant time, space, and manpower, and would likely be less accurate.
The Supreme Court's decision not to take the case effectively ends the effort to mandate hand counting of ballots. No justices dissented when the court denied the request.
Separately, the U.S. Senate candidate declined to defend herself in a defamation lawsuit filed by a top Maricopa County election official. She had accused the county Recorder, also a Republican, of rigging the 2022 gubernatorial election against her.
