HB2472 is a bill that proposes amendments to the Arizona Revised Statutes relating to election contests. The bill expands the acceptable grounds for an elector to contest an election to include votes with a broken chain of custody and early votes with inconsistent signatures or personal information. It also extends the time for the court to set a hearing for an election contest from ten to twenty days after the contest is filed and requires that appeals of a contested election's final judgment be filed directly with and heard by the Arizona Supreme Court, with specific deadlines for filing appeals, responses, and replies, as well as a timeline for the Supreme Court to schedule a hearing and render a decision.

Additionally, the bill designates organizations or entities as persons for the purpose of inspecting ballots, allowing them to provide a rotating series of individuals to inspect on their behalf. It grants parties in an election contest the right to physically examine all ballots, ballot images, early ballot envelopes, and elector's registration records without restriction and entitles them to full discovery on any matter related to the election, with a liberal interpretation to avoid limiting discovery. Each party may also depose up to ten persons. The bill makes various technical changes to the current law to reflect these updates.

Statutes affected:
Introduced Version: 16-672, 16-676, 16-677, 16-674
House Engrossed Version: 16-672, 16-676, 16-677, 16-674