Arizona Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has confirmed that it is still investigating whether or not Katie Hobbs violated the law while serving as Arizona Secretary of State.
The investigation stems from Hobbs’ decision in March last year to suspend an online portal called E-Qual for individuals running for legislative and congressional seats, allowing them to gather signatures on the nominating petitions that qualify them for such seats.
In an emailed statement to the Arizona Daily Independent, a spokesperson for the AGO said due to the ongoing probe, records relating to the matter are being withheld from the public.
“Regarding the public records request you submitted on 11/30/22 & 2/15/23, this is an active investigation and therefore we are unable to release any records pursuant to the best interest of the State,” the statement read.
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office did not respond to multiple requests from The Epoch Times for comments.
In March 2022, Hobbs said she was taking down the E-Qual online system more than two weeks before the nominating period was set to end so that it could be reprogrammed to account for the new districts that were drawn by the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission for the 2022 elections.
Brnovich Condemns Shutdown
However, then-Attorney General Mark Brnovich condemned the early shutdown as illegal, stating that the then-Secretary would face civil and criminal liability if she did so.
In a letter to Hobbs, his office asked the Secretary to swiftly “fix the system” and stated that she would violate Arizona law if she temporarily took E-Qual offline, warning her that doing so would be “either a class 6 felony or class 3 misdemeanor.”
