Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan broke the law when her office failed to mail publicity pamphlets to hundreds of thousands of voters in time for the May 2016 special election, a state-appointed investigator has concluded. But, the investigator found, there is no provision in state law to punish anyone for not delivering the pamphlets on time and Reagan and her staff did not act criminally. That’s the outcome of a long-awaited investigative report released Wednesday by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. Michael Morrissey, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice, led the review as an appointed special investigator. “Approximately 200,000 households did not receive the publicity pamphlets in a timely manner,” Morrissey’s report states. “That is a violation of law.”
The investigator determined, however, that there is no corresponding remedy or sanction in state law that would allow the state to penalize Reagan or her staff. In other words, she faces no formal penalty for not complying with the deadline.
Reagan responded to the investigation’s findings in a brief statement issued Wednesday afternoon.
“We’ve reviewed the report, and as we said last year, mistakes were made and we were responsible,” Reagan wrote. “Since, we’ve made staffing changes, added additional layers of quality control and will utilize different vendors.”
Full Article: Investigator: Secretary of state violated law, but no penalties.