By Daniel Stefanski |
Arizona legislative Republicans are working to give voters an opportunity to help make future elections more efficient.
Last week, the Arizona Senate Elections Committee considered and passed a strike-everything amendment to HCR 2056, an elections-related ballot measure. If passed by the state Senate and House, the proposal would go to Arizona voters in the November General Election.
According to the purpose from the State Senate’s fact sheet, the bill would “prohibit the use of foreign monies for election administration purposes or to influence the outcome of a ballot measure, change the date by which early ballots must be returned to a polling place from 7:00 p.m. on election day to 7:00 p.m. on the Friday before election day, with exceptions for delivery to the office of the county recorder during emergency voting, [and] require the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections to provide for on-site tabulation of all ballots for all voting conducted during early voting or on election day.”
Senator Wendy Rogers issued a statement after the successful passage of the measure out of the committee, writing, “I’m thrilled to report we’re advancing a ballot referral through the Legislature that voters may be able to consider in November to help speed up the process of determining the winners of our elections. Arizona has become the laughing stock of the nation with how long it takes our state to accurately tabulate ballots, not to mention the long lines and wait times voters encounter at the polls. I’m confident our solution is a big step in the right direction to eliminate the chaos.”
Rogers added, “We moved a ‘strike everything amendment’ to HCR 2056 through Senate Elections Committee this week. It would require the use of on-site tabulators in polling places for both Election Day and for early voting, which would lead to a considerably more efficient elections process and faster results. It would also reduce the timeline of when mail-in ballots will be accepted at polling places, but will allow voters to drop them off at the recorder’s office or any designated drop box. Lastly, it would ban all foreign funding of our elections.”
The vote in the Senate Elections Committee was 4-3 in favor of the measure’s advancement. One member did not vote.
Arizona Senate Democrats shared a video out of the Elections Committee, where Secretary of State Adrian Fontes expressed his opposition to the measure. Fontes said, “As it stands today I don’t think the voters deserve to see something like this when there is no sufficient funding in the bill.”
The Senate Democrats’ “X” account also asserted that “this rushed ballot referral will increase provisional ballots, prohibit ‘late early’ drop-offs, and result in longer wait times for EVERYONE.”
The ACLU of Arizona also weighed in on the proposal. Darrell Hill, the policy director for the state’s chapter, said, “Any bill that claims to speed up the election processes by reducing a voter’s ability to cast their ballot is not a solution – it’s blatant voter disenfranchisement.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
