Appeals court sides with Ari­zona GOP, revers­es $27,000 sanc­tions in 2020 elec­tion case

In a legal win for the Ari­zona Repub­li­can Par­ty, the state Supreme Court reversed a low­er court deci­sion sanc­tion­ing the GOP over $27,000 after its unsuc­cess­ful efforts chal­leng­ing Mari­co­pa Coun­ty elec­tion results dur­ing the 2020 elec­tion.
The Ari­zona Repub­li­can Par­ty orig­i­nal­ly sued Mari­co­pa Coun­ty after the 2020 elec­tion, chal­leng­ing its manda­to­ry hand-count audit process.
The GOP alleged the audit process was improp­er­ly con­duct­ed due to the hand count using sam­ple votes cast at cen­ters open to all coun­ty vot­ers, not from precincts, the Asso­ci­at­ed Press report­ed. The machine counts were 100% accu­rate, accord­ing to post-elec­tion tests.
The case was one of over 60 law­suits chal­leng­ing Pres­i­dent Joe Biden’s vic­to­ry over for­mer Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump in 2020.
Judge John Han­nah ruled the law­suit was “mer­it­less” in 2021 and ordered the state GOP to pay $18,000 in legal fees to the S …