Election workers prepare ballots for counting at the Pima County Elections Center in 2020. An Arizona Senate panel voted late Monday to require all ballots to be counted by hand despite the concession by one Republican who supported it that it just can’t be done.

 Mamta Popat, Arizona Daily Star 2020

PHOENIX β€” A Senate panel voted to require all ballots be counted by hand, despite the concession by one Republican who supported it that it just can’t be done.

The action by the Government Committee came late Monday after various people testified about what they contend was fraud in the 2020 election when the official tally showed more Arizonans voted for Joe Biden than Donald Trump. Many Republicans have refused to accept the results despite the fact that various claims of irregularities have either been debunked outright or failed to gather corroborating evidence.

House Bill 2289 is a grab-bag of proposed changes to election laws, but there are two key provisions.

One would eliminate the opportunity of most Arizonans to cast early ballots, despite the fact that nearly 90% of those who voted in 2020 used that option. Instead, that right would be reserved for those who are in hospitals, nursing homes and those who would be out of state on Election Day.

Sen. J.D. Mesnard, R-Chandler, said he has no problem with that. He has questioned the on-demand early voting that has been the law in Arizona since 1991, saying it doesn’t have the kind of checks that occur when someone shows up at the polls and has to present identification. Instead, current law requires only that the person sign the outside of the ballot envelope, with that signature compared with others the county election officials have on file.

But Mesnard said he is having real heartburn with the other key provision: Having all ballots counted by hand, at each polling place, within 24 hours of the polls being closed at 7 p.m.

β€œI am having a harder time with the math,” he said.

Mesnard figures that every ballot has 70 or more individual races, from president or governor down through congressional, legislative and local offices as well as judges and various initiative measures. That means, he said, there would be something like 200 million individual races to be tabulated in Maricopa County alone.

β€œI don’t see how that is possible,” he said.

And Mesnard, who teaches political science courses at Arizona State University and Mesa Community College, said that’s why he relies on machines to tabulate the results of certain tests.

But Rep. John Fillmore, R-Apache Junction, who wrote the bill, contends it is possible β€” with enough people.

First, he would nearly double the number of voting precincts. That, in turn, would limit the number of ballots cast at each location where the tallying would occur.

That, however, means more election workers to staff each of those locations, to say nothing of the number of people needed to actually handle each ballot and tally each race. Fillmore said it’s worth it, saying it about β€œour country’s integrity and what people fought for in World War II.”

Mesnard agreed to vote for the measure β€” and provide the critical fourth vote in the seven-member committee β€” after being assured that Fillmore is willing to consider alterations before it goes to the full Senate.

Fillmore wasn’t willing to voice conspiracy theories to line up the votes the bill needs.

Whether or not election fraud occurred in 2020 is irrelevant, he told lawmakers. β€œThis is an issue of voter confidence.”

Nor, Fillmore said, is it a partisan issue.

β€œThis problem’s not a President Biden problem, this is not a President Trump problem,” he said. β€œThis is a problem of concern by the citizens, Joe Sixpack and Mary Lou on the block, that they need to know their voting counts and there is the integrity of it.”

However, Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, contended β€œvoter fraud is a huge problem.” She predicted dire consequences β€” and election of the wrong people β€” unless something is done.

β€œI’m afraid if we don’t fix our elections now we won’t be able to save our republic because the cheating will be so great that we won’t be able to have the votes in our Legislature to fix it,” Rogers said.

Sen. Kelly Townsend, R-Apache Junction, rejected claims by some that killing off on-demand early voting amounts to voter suppression.

β€œVoter suppression is where you cast your vote and it is negated by someone else’s vote who has cheated,” she said. β€œWe’re not trying to keep people from voting. We are trying to keep people from cheating.”

The measure faces an uncertain future when it goes to the full Senate, because it needs the support of all 16 Republican senators.

Aside from Mesnard wanting changes in the hand-count measure, at least two other GOP senators have voted against changes in election laws that they say are unnecessary.

Even if it survives the Senate, the bill still needs to go to the House, which has not considered its contents. House Speaker Russell Bowers, R-Mesa, effectively killed Fillmore’s original proposal by assigning it to all 12 standing committees, creating an impossible hurdle.

And while HB 2289 would not require House committee action, it will be up to Bowers to decide whether to bring it to the full House.

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