Me too!

Yes but not as you might think. The only court that could actually order the inspection is the district court. I have not viewed the latest docket in the case to see whether there has been a hearing or any filings since the case was put on remand by the SC.

If Lake just demanded access, the county can simply say no. It will take the district court to compel this. Until that is litigated this is what we get. I don’t believe the judge will grant it. And she will be going back to the AZ SC over the issue.

I pointed this out when the order was issued - it tells the district court to either find another reason this claim fails besides laches, or proceed to determine the signature issue. The judge is going to point to the exact same set of statutes that was the basis for denying access to ballot envelopes in the first trial. There is no statutory provision for inspection of the signatures and the judge is going to say just that. Only ballots. This is a special proceeding. The judge doesn’t have much leeway with what is here.

It’s a solid argument that such a scheme renders the signature statute meaningless. But I am doubtful that any district court judge is going to rule that way even if they wanted to. It basically puts the judge in uncharted territory because he has to make up the rules, boundaries, and basic framework for this dispute because the legislature didn’t. Such a task will be viewed as better for the state Supreme Court.