PHOENIX — The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that the Citizens Clean Elections Commission lacked authority to overrule the Secretary of State’s certification of candidates’ qualifying contributions, a decision in a dispute over public campaign funding.
In an order in case CV-26-0346-PR, the court said that under state law, A.R.S. 16-950(B) and (C), the job of verifying and certifying qualifying contributions belongs to the Secretary of State and county recorders, not the Commission.
The case was brought by petitioners Lombardo and Collier against the Clean Elections Commission and its executive director, Thomas Collins, according to court filings posted by the Arizona Supreme Court.
Candidates who run with Clean Elections funding must collect a set number of $5 qualifying contributions from voters before receiving public money. The Commission had concluded the Secretary of State’s certification of those contributions was incorrect, according to the order.
The justices did not decide a separate question about whether money would have to be repaid, saying it no longer needed to be resolved because the underlying calculation issue had been settled.
The ruling was highlighted in an AZ Free News newsletter received by the Thee Arizona Times tip inbox; Thee Arizona Times confirmed its details against the court’s case filings.
The Clean Elections Commission, created by voters in 1998, administers Arizona’s public financing system for statewide and legislative candidates.
Sources: Arizona Supreme Court, case CV-26-0346-PR, AZ Free News (Oct. 29, 2026). Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Angeline Starr / CC0 via Wikimedia Commons.
