Senate Passes Two Election Integrity Bills, Opposes Three

Senate Passes Two Election Integrity Bills, Opposes Three

By Corinne Murdock |

On Monday, the Arizona Senate passed two election integrity bills and turned down three others. The two that passed with the Republican majority 16-13, SB1260 and SB1477, make it a class 5 felony to help a non-Arizonan vote and require superior court clerks to give monthly records of felony convictions to the secretary of state so they may unregister those felons. 

The three bills that failed — SB1358, SB1475, and SB1478 — were sponsored by State Senator Kelly Townsend (R-Mesa). She ultimately voted against her own bills in a failed attempt to have the senate reconsider them.

The first bill, SB1358, would’ve required ballots in counties with voting centers to be separated and grouped by precinct for hand count audits. SB1475 was a striker bill to grant greater power to the attorney general to enforce election law concerning federal elections; originally, the bill made anyone falsely claiming to be a citizen while registering to vote guilty of a felony.

SB1478 would have prohibited county boards of supervisors from requiring specific marking on paper ballots, as well as from providing pens that would bleed through ballot paper. The bill related back to the SharpieGate scandal.

SB1358 failed 13-16, with State Senators Paul Boyer (R-Glendale) and Michelle Ugenti-Rita (R-Scottsdale) joining Democrats in voting against the bill. SB1475 and SB1478 both failed 14-15. 

Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.