Arizona GOP Lawmaker Introduces Bill Empowering Legislature to Reject Election Results

The Republican chairman of the Arizona State House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday introduced a bill that would give the legislature the power to rescind the secretary of state’s certification of his votes electoral.

GOP Representative Shawnna Bolick introduced the bill, which rewrites parts of the state’s election law, such as sections on election observers and securing and auditing ballots, among other measures.

One section grants the Legislative Assembly, which is currently under the control of the GOP, the ability to revoke the Secretary of State’s certification “by majority vote at any time prior to the presidential inauguration.”

“The Legislature may take action in accordance with this paragraph regardless of whether the Legislature is in ordinary or extraordinary session or has held a committee or other hearings on the matter.”

A request for comment from the Arizona secretary of state was not immediately returned.

The move comes as the Arizona GOP faced an intra-party struggle after former President Donald Trump fueled baseless election claims after the state surrendered to President Joe Biden in the election of 2020 – the first time in 24 years that a Democrat has won the state.

The state GOP has also decided to censor Cindy McCain, the wife of former Arizona GOP Senator John McCain and former Arizona GOP Senator Jeff Flake. Both backed Biden in the election.

It’s unclear how far the bill will go even in a Republican-controlled House and Senate. Although Arizona GOP President Kelli Ward, who faces questions about her own re-election, has claimed the presidential election was stolen from Trump, other senior Republicans have pushed back. such assertions.

Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a Republican, refuted President Donald Trump’s baseless attempts to overturn the election results in a very clear statement in December 2020. He also rejected the idea for the Legislative Assembly to appoint its own constituents to deliver the state electoral college votes to Trump.

“I voted for President Trump and worked hard to re-elect him. But I cannot and will not accept the idea that we are breaking current law to change the outcome of a certified election,” he said at the time.