Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed a key bill aimed to speed up election results on Tuesday.
Hobbs rejected HB 2703 (SB 1011). The legislation proposed modifying the deadlines and methods by which a voter could return their voted early ballot in person, restricting early ballot drop-offs to vote collection locations on the Friday preceding Election Day. The bill also allowed for on-site tabulation during the period of early voting, including on the weekends and on the Monday before Election Day.
The legislation also required voters in larger counties such as Maricopa County (the fourth most populous county in the nation) to confirm their address every election cycle in order to be eligible to receive ballots by mail. Voters in smaller counties would also have to confirm their addresses to receive mail ballots, but only every four years.
In a statement on the veto, House Speaker Steve Montenegro lamented Hobbs’ continued refusal to approve reforms speeding up elections while making them more transparent.
Governor Hobbs and Democrat legislators continue to block reforms aimed at ensuring timely and transparent election results. If they won’t act, we will—letting Arizona voters have the final say. https://t.co/WLVxYjWGGs
The speaker alluded to a planned attempt by the GOP to get the legislation passed without Hobbs’ approval: by putting the changes on the ballot for voters to decide.
“Governor Hobbs and Democrat legislators continue to block reforms aimed at ensuring timely and transparent election results,” said Montenegro. “If they won’t act, we will—letting Arizona voters have the final say.”
Governor Hobbs claimed the changes made by HB 2703 created partisan benefits for Republicans. Hobbs cited aspects of the legislation that reformed the Active Early Voting List and late-early ballot drop-offs.
“After adding partisan policies that do nothing to speed up election results and refusing to compromise to protect voting access, it’s clear to me the focus of this bill is disenfranchising voters for partisan gain, not speeding up election results,” said Hobbs.
Today, I vetoed HB2703.
I offered compromises that would have sped up our election results while protecting voting rights. Those were rejected. I won't let partisan actors write our election laws for their own benefit.
The public policy organization Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AFEC) released a statement calling Hobbs’ decision a “foolish, stubborn, and politically minded” fodder for keeping Arizona “the laughingstock of the country” in the next election.
“Governor Hobbs is more interested in catering to a fringe minority of her party than the vast majority of Arizonans who were calling for this necessary and reasonable election reform,” said Scot Mussi, AFEC president. “This action from the Governor’s Office is not what our state expects from our leaders when there are clear procedural problems to address on issues that are central to the government’s purview.”
House Minority Leader Oscar De Los Santos claimed the rejection of HB 2703 crossed party lines, citing polling results from Noble Predictive Insights as proof.
The Republican Governors Association (RGA) issued a statement criticizing Hobbs’ veto as a rejection of “common sense” policymaking.
“Katie Hobbs is failing to sign even the most common sense bills being placed on her desk,” said the RGA. “Arizona lags the nation in the time it takes to count ballots and report results. The insane wait in reporting results is bad for governance, and causes chaos and uncertainty for voters, elected officials, and the country.”
🚨@GovernorHobbs just vetoed commonsense elections reform.
Arizona lags the nation in counting ballots and in the time it takes to count ballots and report results.
The Arizona legislature has passed the combined SB 1011 / HB 2703, sending the bill to the Governor’s desk. SB 1011 and HB 2703 would streamline the state’s election day processes to dramatically speed up election results and bring frustrated voters same-day returns.
To achieve the desired result of a speedier and more precise election outcome, the bills cut off all ballot drop-offs at collection locations to the Friday prior to election day and require voters in Arizona’s most populous counties to confirm their address every election cycle to receive a ballot by mail. For more sparsely populated counties, this would be every four years.
Scot Mussi, President of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, celebrated the passage of the bill saying, “After one too many Election Nights (and weeks) of delayed results, Arizona legislators have done the right thing, crafting a bill that gives our state same-day results.”
He added, “Voters are exhausted of watching this slow-motion train wreck every November. Other states have same-day election results, and it is high time that Arizona enters the 21st Century in this regard. We call on Governor Katie Hobbs to sign this carefully crafted and negotiated bill into law.”
Following the passage of the bill in the State Senate, President Warren Petersen told Fox10, “After the election, we heard from our constituents who were extremely frustrated after waiting days and days to find out who won the election. The first bill to hit the Governor’s desk is a bill that will give us election results the night of the election.”
In a post to X, the AZGOP hailed the passage of the bill and demanded that Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs sign the bill writing, “GREAT NEWS FOR ARIZONA! Both the Arizona House of Representatives and Senate have passed the bill that would give our voters SAME-DAY results in future elections. This is what the people of Arizona have asked for, and our legislators have delivered. Now, it’s up to @GovernorHobbs to listen to the voices of Arizonans who are tired of waiting days and days for the results of critical election races. Governor, leave your partisan politics outside your office and SIGN THE BILL!”
GREAT NEWS FOR ARIZONA!
Both the Arizona House of Representatives and Senate have passed the bill that would give our voters SAME-DAY results in future elections. This is what the people of Arizona have asked for, and our legislators have delivered.
As reported by Fox, Hobbs has voiced serious opposition to the bill, arguing that it makes it harder to vote by cutting off early drop-off and effectively shuttering the state’s Active Early Voting List. “Legislators are attempting to jam through a partisan bill that guts vote by mail and makes it harder to vote,” she claimed. “I offered common sense compromises to count votes faster, and they were rejected. I refuse to let extremists make it harder for Arizonans to vote.”
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) said Arizona’s elections reminded him of a third-world country, calling the state “an embarrassment.”
Rubio told Fox News on Wednesday that the chaos of the state’s election processes confused him.
“I don’t have anything against the state of Arizona, great people, but it seems like you guys are reporting on some third-world country that’s having one of these elections where every day they’re finding new boxes here, new votes there,” stated Rubio.
Rubio won re-election on Tuesday, leading with greater margins in historically blue, Hispanic counties. His state’s election law enables processing of early votes ahead of Election Day, enabling them to count the last of 7.5 million votes in a matter of hours.
If #Florida can count 7.5 million ballots in 5 hours how can it take days for some states to count less than 2 million?
Rubio’s not alone. Voters may feel frustrated by the Secretary of State’s trackers for general election results and ballot progress estimates. For some counties, the percentage of ballots counted have fluctuated, increasing then dropping as more ballots are reported.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, most of the counties didn’t report estimates for the total ballots counted, let alone the types of ballots left to process. As of press time, seven counties haven’t reported the total percentage of ballots counted. Only one county, Greenlee, has 100 percent of ballots processed: accounting for about 2,500 votes.
The other counties who issued percentages of ballots counted range in completion from 70 to 90 percent.
Perhaps the slowest to process their ballots may turn out to be Pima County. Their recorder informed reporters on Wednesday that it may take another week before they finish counting.
As of press time, the following Republican candidates are behind: Blake Masters for U.S. Senate, Kari Lake for Governor, Mark Finchem for Secretary of State, Abraham Hamadeh for Attorney General, David Schweikert for U.S. House District 1, Kelly Cooper for U.S. House District 4, and Robert Scantlebury for State Senate District 9. Most of these races remain close and difficult to call due to outstanding ballots.
Other Republicans currently leading their races include: Eli Crane for U.S. House District 2, David Farnsworth for State Senate District 10, Anthony Kern for State Senate District 27, Janae Shamp for State Senate District 29, and Wendy Rogers for State Senate District 7.
Both parties have expressed confidence that the outstanding ballots will end up in their favor.
Ahead of Thursday’s update to the election results, Secretary of State and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs issued another update in a series of pleas with voters to have patience for the ballot processing.
Accurate election results take time. County election officials are currently working on signature verifying and tabulating all early ballots returned on Election Day. You can stay up to date by visiting https://t.co/fUw8UPLENS#TrustedInfo2022pic.twitter.com/7Qrac4ujF0
Lake took the opposite stance. She insisted that counties were “dragging their feet” on ballot processing. Lake insisted that Election Day ballots would give her the lead on Hobbs.
Like Lake, Masters expressed confidence that the in-person ballots and those mail-in ballots dropped off on Election Day would weigh in his favor.
With the remaining ballots outstanding, we are confident we will win.
— Blake Masters for U.S. Senate Press (@MastersPress) November 9, 2022
Kelly expressed confidence that he would ultimately prevail, though he didn’t offer thoughts on the breakdown of the remaining ballots.
I’m confident we’re going to win. But we don’t have the final results just yet.
Until then, I want to thank everyone who supported our campaign. Whether you made calls, knocked doors, or chipped in a few dollars, we couldn’t have done this without you. pic.twitter.com/O4WcgYaxVz
Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs introduced four pages of election reform suggestions for the legislature on Wednesday. Suggestions included same-day voter registration using provisional ballots, early voting expansion to include the weekend before Election Day, automatic felon voting rights restoration, removal of state ID requirements for online voter registration, a ban on foreign contributions to ballot initiatives, expansion of allowed campaign fund expenditures for “things like child care,” and requiring political action committees (PACs) to disclose any spending in the ten days before registering as a PAC and seventeen days before an election.
Additionally, Hobbs proposed new types of post-election audits, like risk-limiting audits, as well as mandating and streamlining hand count audits. She also suggested adopting Colorado’s practice of using a monthly National Change of Address (NCOA) report to update voter mailing addresses automatically and notify the voter of the change at their old and new address for corrections, as well as allowing Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) data as a first notice of a person moving.
Hobbs noted that her list of proposals wasn’t exhaustive.
In the letter to Senator Karen Fann (R-Prescott), Hobbs cited the need for these election reforms based on lack of closure with the 2020 election.
“It’s no secret that election-related legislation will be a top priority during the upcoming legislative session, and as you know, far too many people seem to believe that the 2020 election has not yet ended,” wrote Hobbs. “Indeed, it’s December 15, 2021, and media reports indicate that Cyber Ninjas have still not completed their ‘audit.’ It’s my fear that our lawmakers will waste time and resources this session trying to pass legislation that accomplishes little more than making it more difficult for election officials to administer elections and more difficult to vote.”
Hobbs characterized her suggested reforms, some of which related to policies in other states that sowed controversy and mistrust in the 2020 election, as the “real solutions.”
“These reforms will make our elections more secure, inclusive, and transparent. Let’s focus on real solutions instead of chasing conspiracies and the favor of those who spread them,” tweeted Hobbs.
Today, I sent legislative leaders a list of election reforms to consider in the upcoming session.
These reforms will make our elections more secure, inclusive, and transparent. Let’s focus on real solutions instead of chasing conspiracies and the favor of those who spread them. pic.twitter.com/vA3me7EUdn
In the September draft of the Election Procedures Manual, Hobbs proposed to require counties with precinct-based polling places to count votes by out-of-precinct voters.
Hobbs also urged the Senate last month to establish more protections for federal workers, in the wake of harassment and threats to her and other election officials concerning the 2020 election.
In a CNN opinion piece last month, Hobbs insisted that “battling misinformation” was the only means of protecting elections. However, the secretary of state has insisted that she has limited ability to address speculation and “conspiracies” surrounding the 2020 election. Hobbs claimed to Axios that the state legislature doesn’t want her office to use funds for educating the public on election issues and laws.
“[They have] made it clear that they don’t want our office to use funds for public education,” claimed Hobbs.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
