Kelli Ward in 2019. A Maricopa County Superior Court judge will soon decide if a group of dissatisfied Arizona Republicans can continue a legal challenge against leaders of the state Republican Party. Republicans Bill Beard and Sandra Dowling say that Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward refuses to acknowledge that enough signatures were gathered to call for a meeting of the state committee — that’s the roughly 1,400 Republican activists in the Arizona GOP. A hearing is scheduled for May 18 to determine if enough valid signatures were collected. But first, attorneys for the Arizona Republican Party have asked Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Michael Kemp to dismiss the case.