§ 10.2 Significance of Election Timelines.

• Jurisdiction: Arizona

§ 10.2 Significance of Election Timelines. The early voting ballot printing deadline is vital to the appellate court’s briefing schedule. The briefing schedule must not only allow due process to the parties, but also address court-centered considerations such as analysis of the issues, oral argument if necessary, and the time needed to assemble the appropriate number of justices when the supreme court is out of session, because five justices must decide issues of statutory constitutionality.

Challenges concerning alleged procedural violations of an election process must be brought before the actual election. See Zajac v. City of Casa Grande, 209 Ariz. 357, 360, ¶ 14, 102 P.3d 297, 300 (2004); Ariz. City Sanitary Dist. v. Olson, 224 Ariz. 330, 333-35 ¶¶ 9-14, 230 P.3d 713, 716-18 (App. 2010) (dismissing plaintiff’s claim, which challenged the validity of a prior recall election); Sherman v. City of Tempe, 202 Ariz. 339, 342, ¶ 9, 45 P.3d 336, 339 (2002). Certain election matters become moot when the relevant election officer must submit the ballot, or, in some cases, the voter publicity pamphlet, for printing in time for the election. See, e.g., Harris v. Purcell, 193 Ariz. 409, 412-14, ¶¶ 15-24, 973 P.2d 1166, 1169-71 (1998) (applying laches in initiative case); Ariz. Legislative...