By Matthew Holloway |
Protect the Vote Arizona will not submit signatures for its proposed Free, Fair and Secure Elections Act, ending the group’s effort to place a constitutional amendment that supporters said would preserve early voting and mail-in voting on Arizona’s November ballot.
The campaign said it collected 439,000 raw signatures with the help of more than 2,000 volunteers after filing the initiative in mid-March, but the measure needed 383,923 valid signatures by July 2 to qualify for the ballot.
Stacy Pearson, who led the campaign, said the raw signature total would have required nearly 88 percent of the signatures to be validated. She said the campaign made a “strategic decision” not to turn over the petitions, citing Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap by name.
“Facing an impossible 88 percent validity requirement, the campaign made a strategic decision to not turn over the signatures of hundreds of thousands of mail-in voting supporters to the very election-denying politicians (i.e. Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap) that this measure was designed to protect against,” the campaign said in a statement.
“The Protect the Vote Arizona team is filled with gratitude for the encouragement, support and hard work across the state,” the group said.
The campaign said it will now focus on challenging HCR 2001 in court and supporting what it called “pro-democracy candidates” in November.
The Free, Fair and Secure Elections Act would have amended the Arizona Constitution to enshrine voting by mail, early in-person voting, Election Day voting at county voting centers, and the ability of voters to sign up to receive a ballot for every election.
The campaign also said the measure would have codified Arizona’s voter ID requirements, required election outcomes to be determined by votes cast by eligible U.S. citizen voters, and barred the Legislature from eliminating mail-in voting or reducing the early voting period.
Protect the Vote Arizona’s decision leaves HCR 2001, also known as the Arizona Secure Elections Act, as a major statewide election measure on the issue currently headed to voters.
The measure would require every voter to show valid government-issued proof of identity before casting a ballot “whether voting in person or by any other method,” require Arizona elections to be decided solely by the votes of eligible citizen voters, prohibit foreign nationals from contributing or spending money to influence Arizona elections, and give voters the option to have their ballot tabulated at their voting location on Election Day.
The measure would also allow Arizona voters and the Legislature to enact laws governing elections, including early voting and mail voting, if those laws are “rationally connected to a legitimate state interest,” including timely and accurate election results, efficient election administration, election security, and preserving public confidence in elections.
HCR 2001 would apply to elections taking place on or after Jan. 1, 2028, if approved by voters. The enrolled text designates the measure as the “Fast Accurate Secure Transparent Election Results Act” or “FAST Election Results Act.”
Rep. Alexander Kolodin (R-LD3), the Scottsdale Republican who sponsored HCR 2001, told lawmakers in March that there were “many potential options” for implementing the ID requirement for mail ballots, including a system in which county recorders would issue voters a unique identification number and require voters to write the last four digits on their ballot envelope.
Votebeat reported that if two Arizona ballot measures with conflicting provisions were to pass, the measure receiving more votes would take effect. With Protect the Vote Arizona no longer submitting signatures, that potential ballot conflict has been removed.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
