Conservative group ordered to pay election contractor’s court costs after failed lawsuit
An Arizona election denying group continued its losing streak in court on Tuesday when a judge dismissed its public records lawsuit against a private firm that conducts election-related services.
We the People AZ Alliance PAC filed a lawsuit in May seeking to enforce a public records request against Runbeck Election Services in Phoenix, claiming it was “thoroughly enmeshed and intertwined” with the Maricopa County Elections Department. The group sought video recordings produced from Nov. 8, Election Day, to Nov. 15 by cameras Runbeck has installed on a loading dock where county ballot affidavit packets “and other election-related materials” are loaded and unloaded.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Bradley Astrowsky heard oral arguments by the parties in September.
Tuesday’s ruling states that We the People AZ Alliance failed to present a valid, legal claim that could be considered in court. Astrowsky noted that the group’s complaint asserted that Runbeck uses artificial intelligence and other means to verify voter signatures, “supervises” county officials as they worked to process ballots and do other election work, “administers” the election, inspects ballots and counts votes.
But “nothing exists to suggest” any of that is factual, the judge wrote. “Plaintiff’s unsupported conclusions and desire that something be true does not make it true.”
Read the ruling: Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Bradley Astrowsky ruling in We the People AZ Alliance lawsuit
The group had compared its claims to those of a successful lawsuit in 2021 that forced the Arizona Senate to turn over records produced by the firm that it contracted with to conduct the election review that year of the 2020 presidential election in Maricopa County. In that case, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled that the Senate’s actions created “public records created in connection with the audit of a separate governmental agency, authorized by the legislative branch of state government” and created by Cyber Ninjas.
“Thus, under Cyber Ninjas, a narrow exception subjects private corporations to the public records law as ‘custodians,’” Astrowsky wrote. “Here, Runbeck did not perform an important governmental function. It accepted ballots and maintained them. It did not count ballots, verify signatures, or serve any other substantive function in determining the validity of a ballot or the counting of same.”
Astrowsky dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it can’t be filed again, and ordered We the People AZ Alliance to pay Runbeck’s costs in the case. Runbeck has 10 days to file an estimate of those costs.
“We appreciate that this baseless lawsuit was dismissed, as our attention is already on the 2024 election cycle and ensuring that our partners, like Maricopa County and others across the country, have the tools and services they need to execute secure and transparent elections,” Runbeck said in a statement released by Erica Fetherston of 10 to 1 Public Relations.
We the People AZ Alliance PAC, run by medical office worker Shelby Busch and one-time Phoenix-area legislative candidate Steve Robinson, has been a leader of election-denying claims in recent years and helped convince former state Senate President Karen Fann to move forward with the 2021 "audit." Though lauded by some conservatives, the election review was ridiculed by many nationwide as a waste of time and money; it concluded that Biden won the 2020 election, same as the county’s official count.
Busch did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
The group has disseminated election disinformation repeatedly but never proved its conspiracy theories. It tried unsuccessfully to recall four of the five Maricopa County Supervisors, has raised money from “Pillow Guy” Mike Lindell and launched an additional six lawsuits against county and state officials since 2022. All of its county lawsuits have been dismissed except two: one against the Secretary of State’s Office seeking early ballot requests and returns, and another seeking ballot-affidavit signatures.
Reach the reporter at rstern@arizonarepublic.com or 480-276-3237. Follow him on X @raystern.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Judge back election contractor Runbeck in open records case
