Hobbs: 'My office continues to focus on fulfilling our duties while ensuring the safety of the public and our staff'

PHOENIX – Based on guidance from federal and state health officials, the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office is accepting candidate nomination filings by mail and has added a drop-off option on the first floor of the Executive Tower. The following is a statement from Secretary Katie Hobbs, responding to Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s tweet calling for the office to continue with in-person filing, despite telling Arizonans to “stay home and minimize the impact to our communities.”

“This is a really dangerous time for partisan posturing, which is exactly what the attorney general is doing. It does seem disingenuous that at the same time he levied criticism about schools not being closed sooner, he is admonishing this office for taking appropriate, legal action to protect public health. It is unproductive for him, and his colleagues, to use the fear and uncertainty of this crisis to score political points.

“If the opinion that the attorney general tweeted about was anything more than political grandstanding, then he should have provided that level of analysis when we discussed it with his office last week. To be clear, everyone who has come to my office in person, including President Fann who requested this opinion, was assisted. This is a compelling indication that their recent actions were part of a coordinated partisan game. Regardless, my office continues to focus on fulfilling our duties while ensuring the safety of the public and our staff.

“The Office of the Secretary of State has been and will remain open and committed to fulfilling all statutory obligations. We will continue to encourage candidates to assist our efforts to limit potential exposure to COVID-19 by using the mail-in and drop-off filing options.”

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