Arizona Republicans offer to give lawmakers – not election officials – final review of election results

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Efforts by GOP lawmakers in battlefield states to radically change election laws come after last year’s election saw record numbers of early and postal voters, many of them Democrats, after the relaxed rules due to the coronavirus pandemic. The high numbers sparked baseless allegations of fraud by then-President Donald Trump and other Republicans that culminated in the deadly Jan.6 insurgency on Capitol Hill.

Under a new proposed amendment to Arizona’s constitution, introduced by a Republican state senator, the legislature would meet in special session on the Monday following election day to “consider or investigate, if necessary”. election results, a provision some Republicans have said is needed after the November election.

GOP Senator David Gowan, the bill’s sponsor, said the legislation “is not supposed to override the people’s vote,” but provides for an election audit process. “

Democrats and voting rights advocates have pushed back the legislation, saying it could strip voters of their voting rights by potentially putting election results in the hands of state lawmakers.

“This initiative is so offensive, such an affront to our democracy,” said Randy Perez, director of democracy at LUCHA Arizona, a grassroots social and economic justice organization.

Arizona became one of the few states to consider election results after the November election, when President Joe Biden became the second Democrat in more than seven decades to win the state. The Trump campaign had filed a lawsuit in the state demanding a review of all ballots cast on election day, alleging some voters were confused on polling day and worried their ballots might not have been counted. The campaign then ditched the costume.

Also under the proposed amendment, the legislature would have the power to choose the state’s presidential voters.

Arizona has 11 electoral college votes and the voters list is from the same political party as the presidential candidate who wins the majority of the votes. Current state law requires presidential voters to vote for the winner of the popular vote, and any voter who refuses to follow the law is replaced, according to the National Association of Secretaries of State.

The choice of the voters list is of crucial importance in presidential elections, when the slightest margin can lead to victory. In the November election, Biden’s victory in Arizona was crucial in securing him the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.

Gowan said his proposal “would return the authority of the electoral college to the legislature.”

Republican lawmakers introduced a similar bill at Arizona House.

Democrats and supporters have denounced the Senate bill as perpetuating baseless allegations of voter fraud and potentially starving millions of voters, saying it could potentially give the legislature the power to overturn the results elections.

“Why even have a presidential election, why have voters vote if, essentially, the legislature is going to be able to override what voters vote,” Sen. Sean Bowie, a Democrat, said in a meeting Tuesday.

The bill is one of more than a dozen election bills that Republicans across the state introduced after Biden’s victory in November, many of which focus on the soaring postal voting process. in 2020 with around 80% of Arizonans voting by mail.

In Grand Canyon state, according to an updated analysis from the liberal-leaning Brennan Center for Justice, lawmakers have introduced, introduced or are advancing at least 19 bills to restrict access to the vote.

A bill would require that postal ballots be notarized. Another allows voters to request a ballot by mail, but voters would have to return their ballot in person. One measure would remove voters who miss four consecutive elections from the state’s permanent early voting list – which allows a voter to automatically receive one ballot in the mail for each election – effectively eliminating the “standing” function.

Overall, according to Brennan, at least 250 restrictive ballot bills are being weighed by state legislatures, an effort led by Republicans – more than six times the number of bills for the same period last year. .

Voting rights experts and advocates see a link between Republicans state-level proposals and Trump’s conspiracy theories surrounding his defeat in the 2020 election.

“This policy is motivated by lies and it robs voters of their rights. It’s time to shut people up. Because people were heard in November and some people don’t like what they heard.” , said Alex Gulotta of All Voting is Local Arizona in an interview with CNN.

“It really is the tyranny of ignorance. A subset of people who are so concerned about maintaining their power that they are willing to do anything, and part of that is to continue this lie about our elections “, he added.

Even the GOP members of the state legislature have doubts about the need for some of the bills, including Republican House Speaker Rusty Bowers.

“In order to restore some sense of credibility to the elections themselves, people have introduced a lot of bills. Some of them, I think, are valid. We need to clean up the voters lists, make sure people are here to vote is pretty standard. But other things are not as acceptable to me, ”said Bowers, who added that he disagreed with a proposal that voters should do. notarize their postal ballots.

“No, I’m not going to do that,” he said.

“I was not happy with the result, but I don’t have to be happy with the result to know that honorable people did an honorable job,” Bowers said while praising the security and integrity of the system. electoral state.

If the constitutional amendment is ultimately passed, it will be voted on statewide in the upcoming general election in November 2022.

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