One of the Arizona Legislature’s election integrity measures cleared its first hurdle this week, putting it one step closer to a possible showdown with Governor Katie Hobbs’ office.
The bill, HB2305, which was sponsored by Representative Cory McGarr, deals with ballots, signature verification, and observers. It cleared the Arizona House Municipal Oversight & Elections Committee on Wednesday, February 1, with a party-line 6-4 vote. Representatives Harris, Heap, Jones, Smith, Kolodin, and Parker voted to pass the legislation out of the Republican-controlled committee.
According to the summary from the Arizona Legislature, HB2305 “requires the County Recorder and county officer in charge of elections to allow party representatives to observe each stage of the signature verification process for early ballots.” This appears to already be existing law in ARS 16-621 (“All proceedings at the counting center…shall be conducted in accordance with the approved instructions and procedures manual issued pursuant to section 16-452 under the observation of representatives of each political party and the public.”) as one member of the Arizona House pointed out to AZ Free News, but some legislators desire to make the law crystal clear to help improve the transparency and integrity of the election process and to ensure that all Arizona counties are following the law when it comes to signature verification.
The Arizona signature verification process has received a tremendous amount of scrutiny since the 2020 presidential election – especially due to the sheer number of early ballots returned prior to and on Election Day each cycle. Arizona county officials spend weeks and countless hours tabulating ballots returned through the mail or dropped off at designated sites up until 7pm on Election Night. Many of the late arrivals are counted in the days following Election Day, and signatures are supposed to be verified before any vote is officially tallied.
Signature verification was a large focus of former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s investigation into the Maricopa County 2020 General Election and his subsequent interim report to former Senate President Karen Fann on April 6, 2022. The interim report found that “on November 4, 2020, the Maricopa County Recorder verified 206,648 early ballot affidavit signatures, which resulted in an average of 4.6 seconds per signature.” Brnovich’s report stated that “there are simply too many early ballots that must be verified in too limited a period of time, thus leaving the system vulnerable to error, fraud and oversight.”
Brnovich’s reported concluded that “because signature verification is the most important current check on early ballots, there must be opportunities for parties’ election observers to meaningfully observe the signature verification process in real time and to raise objections if officials are not doing their jobs to actually and accurately verify signatures.” He then called on the Arizona Legislature to act “to ensure transparency on this check.” Representative McGarr’s legislation may be an answer to that suggestion.
At last count of the legislation’s page on the Arizona Legislature’s website, there were 153 entries in support of HB2305 and only 25 against. The Arizona Secretary of State’s Office took a neutral position.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) has the attention of national and local Republicans – especially as a group may be forming to push this voting reform measure onto the 2024 Arizona ballot to affect future elections.
After the Republican National Committee (RNC) voted last week to oppose RCV, Arizona Representative Austin Smith, who is a freshman member of the legislature and the Arizona Freedom Caucus, introduced HB2552 to prohibit RCV in the Grand Canyon State.
Ranked Choice Voting is most prominently featured in Alaska, where voters rank their preferences in each election until one candidate receives more than 50% of the vote. If RCV were to be successfully pushed by special interest groups in the 2024 election, Arizona’s primary and general elections would be effectively eliminated in favor of this new progressive system.
According to the Pew Research Center, “62 jurisdictions nationwide have adopted the voting method” – and more are on the way in the near future, including the attempt to airdrop it into Arizona.
Representative Smith posted on his Twitter account this week that his legislation had “support from a majority of the Republican caucus in both the Arizona House and Senate.”
Today I introduced HB2552 that prohibits Rank Choice Voting in the state of AZ. RCV is a disaster.
This has support from a majority of the Republican caucus in both the @AZHouseGOP & @AZSenateGOP. We stand united in not bringing Rank Choice Voting to Arizona. Let’s get it done! pic.twitter.com/Ttp3ivqKU7
Smith does not appear to be wrong about that. The bill has garnered 38 cosponsors from both legislative chambers.
The bill also appears to be destined for a quick vote as it has already received a first and second read in the Arizona House in its first week of existence.
RCV has long been a target of Representative Smith. Soon after Smith won his general election contest in November 2022, he tweeted that “We can never allow rank choice voting to happen in Arizona.”
In an exclusive interview with AZ Free News, Representative Smith explained why he introduced this legislation:
“I introduced HB 2552 with a majority of Republican lawmakers of all stripes because we’ve seen in the test run with RCV that it doesn’t work. It actually deepens problems with elections. It hurts voters and makes the process of tallying even harder. We shouldn’t make the process of vote tallying even harder for election workers and sow distrust in the process even more.”
Representative Smith’s bill has been met with tremendous applause from many people around Arizona and nationally, including two former elections officials in the state, David Romney (Election Services Division of the Arizona Secretary of State’s office) and Jen Wright (Assistant Attorney General and head of the Election Integrity Unit).
Should this legislation pass the Arizona Senate and House, it remains to be seen whether it would be signed into law by Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs, who has promised to use her veto stamp on bills she believes are partisan in nature.
This potential uncertainty if and when the legislation reaches the Ninth Floor won’t stop Representative Smith, however, from seeing his bill across the legislative finish line. Smith told AZ Free News, “It’s important for the legislature to show Arizona citizens that Republicans are going on the offensive to prevent bad policies from hurting Arizona’s elections. The best defense is a good offense, and my bill does just that.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Republican state legislators representing Scottsdale condemned a local superintendent for racist remarks that recently made national headlines. Scott Menzel, the Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) superintendent, called the white race “problematic.”
Republicans representing District 3 — State Reps. Joseph Chaplik and Alex Kolodin, along with State Sen. John Kavanagh — urged Menzel to issue an apology and resign.
“The racist words and sentiments Menzel publicly expressed have no place in Scottsdale schools,” stated the trio. “Menzel’s racist views not only compromise his ability to lead, but he has made himself the center of a controversial spotlight that will only distract from learning.”
The three legislators also asked the SUSD Governing Board to remove Menzel. They noted that SUSD has faced mounting criticism in recent years over its incorporation of various progressive ideologies, such as on gender and race.
Menzel issued the remarks in a 2019 interview while working as a superintendent in Michigan. He said that white people, including children, needed to feel uncomfortable about themselves due to their race. Menzel further claimed that meritocracy was a myth.
“[W]hite people have racial identity as well, and in fact problematic racial identity that we typically avoid,” said Menzel. “[White people] should feel really, really uncomfortable, because we perpetuate a system by ignoring the realities in front of us, and living in a mythological reality.”
Menzel went on to celebrate public chaos as an opportunity for social reform.
“[White supremacy is] in the very fabric of the way this country was established, and we’ve never righted the wrongs of the genocide of the indigenous population, and the enslavement of a population from Africa on which the wealth of this country was built,” said Menzel.
At the time of the 2019 interview, Menzel had received numerous awards, honors, and recognitions for his leadership, and was a frequent featured panelist and guest speaker for local and state events. During the Obama administration, the White House named Menzel a YMCA Champion of Change in 2013. The next year, the Michigan Department of Education named Menzel to their advisory council on early childhood education.
SUSD hasn’t addressed this latest controversy from Menzel.
Under Menzel’s leadership the divide between parents and the district has only grown. Last year, the district adopted a controversial policy in which they posted the names of individuals submitting records requests, yet they would redact staff members’ names in response to those requests.
Menzel has also defended staff members that discussed gender ideology with kindergarten and elementary students without parental knowledge. He claimed those parents opposed to these discussions were in violation of Civil Rights law, insisting that the staff member in question was attacked because of her identity. Menzel further informed parents that the district wouldn’t punish employees over such behavior.
“To target an individual publicly for their personal identity — in this case the individual against whom this complaint was filed does not identify as either male or female — is overt discrimination and inconsistent with state and federal law as well as school district policy,” said Menzel.
In a separate incident in 2021, Menzel admonished parents and community members opposed to clubs focusing on children’s gender and sexuality. Menzel called them bullies.
Last April, SUSD’s social justice professionals promoted a drag queen storytime.
As the Arizona Daily Independent reported recently, the district falsely denied the existence of an official transgender support plan for nearly a year. The support plan, labeled “Confidential” by the district, noted that caregivers should be included in the completion of the document — not “must.” The district also considered ways to implement a gender support plan if the student’s parents or guardians weren’t supportive of such a plan.
In a 2015 equity panel hosted by Menzel’s former employer, Menzel proposed a “cradle to career education continuum” that resembled the controversial “cradle to grave” approach proposed by former President Barack Obama for lifelong government involvement.
The district only went so far as to remove the former board president, Jann-Michael Greenburg, from presidency after the 2021 discovery of his involvement in a dossier on parents and alleged political enemies within the district. Court cases concerning this dossier are ongoing.
The Paradise Valley School (PVUSD) Governing Board President Pro Tem indicated that white Christians shouldn’t determine curriculum.
Newly elected PVUSD member Kerry Baker issued the remark over the weekend in response to Arizona Department of Education (ADE) Superintendent Tom Horne’s recent actions to purge social-emotional learning (SEL), critical race theory (CRT), and other progressive ideologies from classrooms. Baker claimed that CRT isn’t present in schools but that what Horne sought to eradicate was true history; she pinned blame on white Christians for the purportedly misdirected purge.
“We are not a society of white Christians,” tweeted Baker. “It is dangerous to assume we are. It is even more dangerous to believe public schools are only made up of white Christians. Our communities are full of rich and diverse cultures and families. We should ALL be celebrated. Not just a certain population.”
Baker added the claim that Horne’s opposition to CRT made him a “racist.”
“When [Tom Horne] says he’s anti-CRT, he’s just reminding us he’s racist,” stated Baker.
I’m going to say this again real slow. CRT. Is. Not. Taught. In. Our. Schools. It’s called history and diversity, and it is vital to raising productive members of society. We are not a society of white Christians. pic.twitter.com/ULFQt7IAO4
Baker, a former Peoria Unified School District and Dysart Unified School District teacher endorsed by teacher union lobbyist group Save Our Schools Arizona (SOSAZ), stands in opposition to major policy changes defining the Horne administration. Baker ran on a campaign opposing universal school choice, supporting SEL, and resisting public posting of teaching materials.
Baker is a product of the Leading For Change (LFC) fellowship program: a Democrat-run group that trains up Democratic elected officials and activists, founded by a board member of dark money group Arizona Advocacy Network (AAN), who’s also the former executive for Center for Progressive Leadership and Planned Parenthood of Central and Northern Arizona.
Baker explained in her LFC biography that she decided to run for PVUSD governing board because two of her six children had identities that aligned with her activist interests. According to Baker, she has helped one of her children transition genders, and another one of her children has autism.
In an interview with The Arizona Republic last year, Baker said that SEL was important because it enabled K-12 educators to fulfill students’ social and emotional shortcomings caused by school closures throughout the pandemic — much of which were prompted by educators and teachers unions.
During her first school board meeting earlier this month, Baker listed greater inclusivity of special needs children in regular classrooms, expanding LGBTQ+ rights, hiring SEL teachers, and emphasizing diversity among her priorities. Baker quoted Gov. Katie Hobbs in her introductory speech, saying that there wasn’t a shortage of teachers, just a crisis retention.
In addition to her dislike of “white Christians,” Baker appears to have a disdain for any groups composed mainly of white people — even if they’re children. In response to SOSAZ Director Beth Lewis posting a picture of Treasurer Kimberly Yee’s visit to the Brophy College Preparatory Republican Club last fall, Baker scorned the fact that the group looked too white.
“There wasn’t one [GIF] that said ‘so many white boys,’” wrote Baker.
There wasn’t one that said “so many white boys”. 🤷🏼♀️
Baker also supports allowing biological males to join female sports teams and enter female spaces, such as locker rooms and restrooms. Baker derided concerned parents opposed to this permissiveness as “transphobic.”
Throughout her campaign, Baker opposed efforts to ban any books from classrooms. She emphasized this stance as recognizing the importance of multiculturalism. Yet, Baker opposed any aspect of religion from entering the classroom — namely, Christianity. Baker claimed her opposition represented the proper understanding of ensuring a separation of church and state.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Attorney General Kris Mayes accused her predecessor, Mark Brnovich, of election suppression.
In a Sunday interview with MSNBC, Mayes said that Brnovich’s office looked too hard for potential voter fraud. Mayes opined that only taking on five cases would be the norm every couple of years, not hundreds or thousands of cases in any one given year.
“This Election Integrity Unit — which was obviously completely misnamed, it was more like an ‘Election Suppression Unit’ here in Arizona — you know, it spent thousands of man and woman hours investigating conspiracy theories, alleged cases of voter fraud,” said Mayes.
Mayes went on to insinuate that the Election Integrity Unit (EIU) would meet its demise under her administration. The attorney general indicated that the EIU would be replaced with a unit that would challenge election scrutiny.
“We’ve got to put an end to that kind of effort to suppress the vote, we’ve got to change this into a unit that protects voters, protects the right to vote, and most of all, protects our elections officials,” said Mayes.
Mayes said she would prosecute anyone who threatens election officials. She also criticized Republicans for attacking early mail-in voting.
The contempt that Mayes and her office have for the former attorney general has been made obvious in recent weeks. Mayes’ newly appointed chief deputy attorney general, Dan Barr, indicated that physical force was the only means of handling Brnovich effectively.
“The only way to deal with cowardly bullies is to punch them in the nose,” wrote Barr. “That’s what @SecretaryHobbs is doing to @GeneralBrnovich.”
Under the leadership of @AZAGMayes, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office will now work with elections officials across the state and will prosecute the people who threaten them. https://t.co/Yui5nWXtL0
Mayes promised in previous weeks to repurpose EIU resources toward “protecting voting access and combating voter suppression.” Mayes toldThe Guardian earlier this month that she would use her office to protect mail-in voting from efforts to reduce it.
Brnovich established the EIU in 2019 with $500,000 from the governor’s office. He appointed now-former assistant attorney general Jen Wright to head the unit. Wright recently joined the legal team for Mayes’ GOP opponent, Abraham Hamadeh, as he challenges the validity of the 2022 general election.
Wright claimed that recount data revealed some voters recorded by election machines as “undervotes” were incorrect, and that provisional ballot rejections suggested previously invactive voters had their provisional ballots rejected as ineligible.
I’m please to announce I have joined @AbrahamHamadeh’s election contest to ensure that every legal vote was counted in the Arizona Attorney General’s race.
Wright has also initiated legal proceedings against Mayes after her office falsely claimed to The Arizona Republic that they fired Wright, when Wright had resigned before Mayes took office. The outlet hasn’t issued a correction or retraction, since Mayes’ office doubled down on the claim.
Mayes’ office may be in violation of Arizona law limiting agency disclosure of personnel information. Wright further claimed that Mayes’ office discriminated against Wright due to her political affiliation.
💥SERVED💥 “Arizona Administrative Code § R2-5A-105(D) limits the personnel information that an agency may disclose publicly… and your lies to the media fit nowhere within the authorized public disclosures.”
Arizona State University (ASU) professor Neal Lester said that cultural appropriation is equivalent to racism and white supremacy, specifically claiming it lacked humanity.
Lester — an English professor at ASU for 26 years and founder of ASU’s social justice-focused initiative, Project Humanities — made these remarks during a September episode of “Dr. Phil.”
“We can say the same thing about racism, sexism, homophobia. Just because you can’t solve it and don’t see it at every corner doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be aware of it and trying to address it,” said Lester. “I put [cultural appropriation] on the same level as white supremacy, because white supremacy is intersectional.”
Lester added that cultural appropriation was not only inhumane, but disrespectful. “Dr. Phil” host, Phil McGraw, pointed out that not everyone who puts on other cultural items was necessarily doing so in a manner intending comedic effect. Lester responded that even those instances would be reductive, performative, and ultimately disrespectful of those from that culture.
“You’re getting some kind of cultural capital by doing it,” said Lester. “It’s not necessarily who’s hurt by it, it’s who is disrespected by it. A whole culture of people whose identities are wrapped in whatever you’re dressing into and can then take off.”
The focus of the “Dr. Phil” episode, “Appropriation Nation: Has it Gone Too Far?”, concerned in part a 2018 controversy after an 18-year-old Utah teenager, Keziah Daum, posted her wearing a qipao dress to prom. A 20-year-old University of Utah student at the time, Jeremy Lam, quote-tweeted the post with the viral comment, “My culture is NOT your goddamn prom dress.”
Lam later told outlets that Daum’s outfit was a sign of racism. His original caption on Daum’s dress inspired months of memes, where social media users would use the phrase in their own captions when reposting others’ outfits.
Though Lam and a select few social media users at the time claimed Daum’s outfit choice was cultural appropriation, Daum revealed in September’s “Dr. Phil” episode that China invited her to its Qipao Festival to be their guest of honor.
“They loved the fact that someone from America was taking in a part of their culture and showing their appreciation for it,” said Daum. “I wasn’t appropriating it. I wore it because it was a beautiful dress and I appreciated it.”
The episode also addressed content created by former Prager University influencer, Will Witt, in which he wore outfits depicting various cultures on college campuses and then in areas dominated by the culture reflective of that outfit. Witt wore outfits representative of Native American, Mexican, and Chinese cultures. Only those on college campuses expressed negative sentiment toward Witt’s outfits, a majority of whom didn’t hail from the areas dominated by the culture while those in the areas reflective of his outfits expressed positive sentiment.
“The only people who are actually offended by cultural appropriation don’t really have anything else of meaning going on in their lives, it seems,” said Witt. “[Cultural appropriation] is a thing created by elitist white people who don’t really ever talk to these people in these cultures.”
Lester likened cultural appropriation to plagiarism. Witt said Lester’s comments proved him to be one of the “anti-white, ivory tower professors” attempting to domineer cultural norms.
