PHOENIX β State lawmakers began the process Monday of making major and minor alterations in state election laws, amid suggestions there was fraud in 2020.
On party line votes, the Republican-controlled Senate Government Committee approved:
New security requirements for ballot paper such as ultraviolet inks and foil holograms;
Requiring that the images of every ballot be made public so that individual voters can effectively conduct their own audits of tallies;
Mandating automatic recounts in any election where the margin of victory is less than 0.5%, up from 0.1% β a change big enough that, had it been in effect in 2020, it would have mandated a new count in Joe Bidenβs 10,457-vote victory in Arizona over Donald Trump.
Those are just the first steps planned. Waiting in the wings are some far more substantive changes, including new identification requirements to register and vote, and reducing the ability of people to vote early.
Mondayβs debate on the bills came the same day Arizona formed its committee to host the 2023 Super Bowl.
That is relevant because a group of faith leaders called last week on the National Football League to pull the game out of the state because of what they say are already overly restrictive election laws, including last yearβs measure allowing people from being removed from what had been the permanent early voting list. Republican Gov. Doug Ducey on Monday brushed aside their request, instead talking about the 2020 election, which he certified, saying Monday that people said it was βsafe and secure.β
The NFL yanked the 1993 Super Bowl from Arizona over the failure to create a state holiday for slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., moving it to California. And last year, in a separate sport, Major League Baseball moved its All-Star game out of Atlanta after Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed election legislation that foes said works to disenfranchise minorities.
βWe know that the NFL, with its social justice initiative, can be inclinedββ to act,ββ the Rev. Stephen A. Green, chair of Fair for Black Lives, told USA Today. βWeβre calling on the NFL to do it again,ββ he said. βWe will be applying pressure on the NFL to honor our request.ββ
Ducey, while declining to comment on specific measures being debated, also suggested that some of the more far-reaching election proposals may not become law.
βPeople are running for election,ββ he said, a nod not just to legislators seeking a new term but to the fact that several are competing to become the next secretary of state, the stateβs chief elections officer.
βTheyβre out there saying certain things that may or may not ever be introduced,ββ Ducey said.
What is moving along, however, are the measures approved Monday by the Senate Government Committee.
Potentially the most sweeping is SB 1120 on ballot security measures.
Sen. Sonny Borrelli, R-Lake Havasu City, said the Senate-conducted audit of the 2020 election in Maricopa County found ballots turned in on 10 different types of paper of different weights. But he said the company that printed the ballots for Maricopa County said it uses only one kind of paper. He suggested there were some fake ballots.
SB 1120 lists 19 specific things to which future ballots would have to conform, similar to what exists for larger denominations of U.S. currency.
Borrelli acknowledged there would be a cost, though he said it could be as little as a nickel a ballot. He told colleagues that should not be a concern.
βOur ballot is your currency as an American citizen, and your ballot should be treated just like the currency in your pocket,ββ he said.
Borrelli is also the sponsor of SB 1119. As approved by the panel, it would require counties to make digital copies of all ballots and post them online.
βWe vote in private but count in public,ββ he said.
A parade of witnesses said having those public images would allow individuals to make their own assessments of the validity of the ballots. That is similar to claims made during the audit β all unproven β about everything from ballot folds, to whether a bubble was filled in too perfectly to actually have been done by a human.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake said she has a personal reason for supporting the bill.
βIβm worried about what happened to President Trump happening to me and others,ββ she told lawmakers Monday. βThis last election was shady, it was shoddy, it was corrupt, and our vote was taken from us.ββ
That got a slap from Sen. Martin Quezada, D-Glendale.
βSaying the election was stolen is a great campaign speech,ββ he said. βBut itβs not real.ββ
Donald Adams testified about working at the Senate audit.
βI could feel the different thickness of the paper every time it changed,ββ he said. βI know there was election fraud.ββ
However, the contractors who conducted the audit for the Senate made no specific allegations of fraud in their report.
Mondayβs action is only a precursor of what is yet to come.
One of the more far-reaching measures comes from Rep. Walt Blackman.
The Snowflake Republican, who is running for Congress, proposes in HB 2577 to require anyone showing up to vote to present a voter identification card.
The only way to get that would be if someone presents proof of citizenship, which can be in the form of a U.S. birth certificate, naturalized citizenship documents or current U.S. passport. Tribal ID cards would no longer be acceptable. The card also could be issued only with two other documents that validate the person as a legal Arizona resident.
And even someone who has the kind of voter ID card that Blackman proposes would have to present two other offers of proof that he or she is the person on the card out of three legal options: signature, fingerprint or a βunique security codeββ issued to that person.
The same measure, HB 2577, would scrap whatβs left of the early voting list, requiring people to seek an early ballot for each election.
Blackman also is the sponsor of HB 2571, which proposes to scrap decades-old laws that allow anyone to request an early ballot. Instead, people would have to provide a specific reason, ranging from being out of their voting precinct on Election Day to that day falling on a religious holiday.
And in the most sweeping provision, the legislation wold require that ballots for all future state, county, city or town elections be counted by hand. The only use of machines would be by those who require special accommodations.
In HB 2242, Rep. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, wants county recorders to independently verify the name, address, date of birth and driverβs license number of people who register. Willful failure to comply could send the recorder to prison for a year.
He also wants those who drop off early ballots at voting centers to provide the same identification as is β or will be β required for those who vote in person.
Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, has her own ideas for how to change elections.
Her SB 1133 would make it illegal for cities and school districts to hold mail-only elections. She also wants, through SB 1058, to ban drive-through voting and the use of drop boxes except in official election facilities, outlawing what had been a popular method of casting ballots during the pandemic before vaccines were available.
And SB 1027 would set up a new Bureau of Elections within the Governorβs Office to investigate allegations of election fraud.
Rep. Shawnna Bolick, R-Phoenix, proposes to ease the prohibition on taking photos within the 75-foot limit around polling places. Her HB 2377 would permit voters to take pictures or videos of themselves as well as βany election worker.ββ
Not all the measures seek new restrictions.
Rep. David Cook, R-Globe, has proposed HB 2071, which would require election officials to count any ballot that is postmarked at least six days before Election Day. Current law says any ballot not in the hands of election officials by 7 p.m. on that day does not get counted.
