Jones v. Respect the Will of the People
| Decision Date | 25 August 2022 |
| Docket Number | 2 CA-CV 2022-0065 |
| Citation | 77 Arizona Cases Digest 36,517 P.3d 1188 |
| Parties | Shane Noel JONES, a Qualified Elector; Victoria Cranford, a Qualified Elector and Resident of Graham County, Plaintiffs/Appellants, v. RESPECT THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE: Graham County Voters & The Arizona Public Integrity Alliance Encourages A No Vote On Massive Marijuana Expansion In Our Area, Real Party in Interest George Khalaf, as Its Chairman; Wendy John, in Her Official Capacity as Graham County Recorder ; Hannah Duderstadt, in Her Official Capacity as Deputy Clerk/elections Director; Danny Smith, Paul R. David, and John Howard, in Their Official Capacities as Members of the Board of Supervisors for Graham County, Defendants/Appellees. |
| Court | Arizona Court of Appeals |
Herrera Arellano LLP, Phoenix, By Roy Herrera, Daniel A. Arellano, and Jillian L. Andrews, and Snell & Wilmer L.L.P., Phoenix, By Colin P. Ahler, Counsel for Plaintiffs/Appellants
Rose Law Group PC, Scottsdale, By Logan V. Elia and John H. Sud, Counsel for Defendants/Appellees
¶1 In this expedited election appeal, Shane Jones and Victoria Cranford (collectively, Jones) challenge the trial court's final judgment in favor of Respect the Will of the People: Graham County Voters & The Arizona Public Integrity Alliance Encourages a No Vote on Massive Marijuana Expansion in Our Area; its chairman, George Khalaf; and various Graham County officials (collectively, RWP), denying Jones's request for injunctive relief and permitting referendum petition REF-02-2021 to be placed on the November 2022 ballot.1 Jones raises two principal issues on appeal: (1) whether the court erred in concluding the petition complied with A.R.S. § 19-101(A) by including the title twice and the entire text of the zoning measure; and (2) whether the court erred in concluding RWP had obtained enough valid signatures to place the measure on the ballot. By order dated July 21, 2022, we affirmed the trial court's judgment, indicating that a formal written disposition would follow. This opinion is that disposition.
¶2 In June 2021, the Graham County Board of Supervisors approved the rezoning of a portion of land from "general use" to "unlimited manufacturing" for the purpose of establishing a medical marijuana cultivation facility. The following month, RWP filed a referendum petition (designated as REF-02-2021) opposing the rezoning and referring the matter to Graham County voters in the November 2022 election. Later that month, RWP submitted 2,288 signatures supporting the petition. In August 2021, after verifying randomly selected signatures, the Graham County Recorder certified the petition for the ballot.
¶3 Also in August, Jones filed a verified complaint pursuant to A.R.S. §§ 19-122(C) and 19-141(D), alleging RWP had failed to obtain a sufficient number of valid signatures on the referendum petition.2 In addition, Jones alleged RWP had failed to comply with the petition requirements under § 19-101(A) by including "more than the ‘title’ of the measure, its number, and the meeting and body at which it was passed," which Jones asserted was "misleading." Jones requested an injunction prohibiting Graham County officials from placing the petition on the November 2022 ballot.
¶4 RWP subsequently filed a motion to dismiss Jones's complaint. First, RWP argued Jones was barred by the statute of limitations from challenging the signatures on the referendum petition. Second, regarding the allegation that the petition was "misleading," RWP asserted Jones had failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. Further, RWP maintained that the petition "strictly complies with the relevant statutes" because it included the "entire name of the Rezoning Application as described in the Board's official meeting minutes," consistent with A.R.S. § 19-121(E). The trial court denied the motion to dismiss in part, rejecting the statute of limitations argument. The court, however, granted the motion to dismiss "to the extent that [Jones] challenge[d] the text of the ‘petition for referendum’ section of the subject petitions," finding that the petition was "within the bounds of what is permissible."
¶5 Shortly thereafter, Jones filed a motion for summary judgment on the signature challenge. The parties agreed that RWP needed 1,064 signatures to place the referendum petition on the ballot and that it had collected 2,288 total signatures. Jones, however, maintained that 1,308 of the signatures were "statutorily deficient," leaving only 980 that were valid. Jones reasoned that 230 signatures were "invalid based on facial deficiencies or lack of a corresponding voter registration record [in] Graham County." Jones further asserted that 1,077 signatures were "deficient" because the circulator who had collected them, Keith Leonard, "issued a false circulator affidavit about where he lived."3
¶6 After oral argument, the trial court denied the motion for summary judgment as to the 1,077 signatures affected by the circulator challenge, finding Leonard's address to be a factual question. The court also denied the motion as to ninety-three signatures that had addresses on the referendum petition that did not match those in the voter rolls and as to six signatures that had a missing year in the date line. But the court granted the motion for summary judgment as to eighty-seven signatures not appearing in the Graham County voter rolls, thirty-one signatures with missing or illegible information, ten signatures that listed a post-office box instead of a residential address, three signatures with a date-related deficiency, and ten signatures that were duplicative.4
¶7 In April 2022, the trial court held a bench trial to address the remaining issues. After considering the evidence and argument, the court found that the address Leonard had listed on the circulator affidavit was not his "actual residence" and, therefore, it concluded all the petition sheets circulated by Leonard were invalid.
¶8 The trial court then heard argument concerning the remaining signature issues. Jones asserted that, during trial preparations, he had discovered an additional twelve signatures that were not in the Graham County voter rolls and argued that they should be covered by the court's earlier grant of summary judgment on that issue. According to Jones, taking those additional signatures into account would mean RWP had failed to meet the 1,064 threshold. The court ordered Jones to file a supplemental motion for summary judgment and RWP to respond in order to give both parties time to review the signatures and the calculation.
¶9 In that supplemental motion, Jones pointed out that, as part of the initial motion for summary judgment, the trial court had struck the signatures of eighty-seven individuals who were not registered to vote in Graham County when they signed the referendum petition but had proceeded to trial on ninety-three signatures for individuals whose addresses on the petition did not match the voter records. Jones explained that the additional twelve signatures he had discovered during trial preparations "were inadvertently included in [his] objection category for a ‘mismatched address’ when, in fact, they did not appear at all in the County's voter registration records." Jones therefore reasoned that the twelve signatures "cannot be counted." He also pointed out that, on the eve of trial, when counsel had sent RWP an email detailing this discrepancy, RWP suggested it would stipulate to the twelve "objections based upon signers who do not appear in the precinct register." Jones argued RWP could not "walk ... back" the stipulation "because it did not anticipate losing on the Keith Leonard issue." And, Jones maintained that subtracting all the invalid signatures left RWP with 1,062 signatures, which was two short of the required 1,064.
¶10 In response, RWP conceded that the twelve signatures raised in the supplemental motion "were not those of registered voters in Graham County."5 But RWP pointed out that of the ten signatures the trial court had originally struck as duplicates pursuant to the initial motion for summary judgment, seven were duplicative of signatures Leonard had obtained. Thus, RWP argued, when the court struck the Leonard signatures, "the copies of the 7 signatures that were gathered by other circulators and previously eliminated as duplicates [were] now the only valid signatures from those voters." (Emphasis omitted.) Adding those seven to the 1,062 Jones had conceded were valid, RWP reasoned there were 1,069 valid signatures, exceeding the requirement of 1,064. RWP also identified an additional twenty-two signatures that had been "misrepresented" in the initial motion for summary judgment and should not have been disqualified.
¶11 In reply, Jones argued that RWP was asking "to re-open this entire case" by contesting "scores of ... signature-specific objections that have long been disclosed and were squarely raised in [the initial] motion for summary judgment." Jones asserted RWP had "waived any arguments concerning signatures already deemed invalid" because it had not challenged them as part of the initial motion for summary judgment. Jones further asserted that he would suffer "immeasurable prejudice" by having to relitigate these issues. As to the seven duplicate signatures, Jones explained that the individuals had signed Leonard's petition first and he had sought summary judgment on the "second-in-time signature," such that both signatures should be disqualified. (Emphasis omitted.)
¶12 In May 2022, the trial court issued its under-advisement ruling denying Jones's request for injunctive relief. The court concluded RWP had waived its argument concerning the twenty-two signatures that were "misrepresented" in the initial motion for summary...
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