Politics
JUST IN: Arizona’s Democrat Governor Vetoes Election Integrity Bill
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, opted to veto on Tuesday a Republican-backed election integrity bill aimed at speeding up the state’s notoriously slow ballot counting process and produce faster election results.
The bill, known as HB2703 or SB1101, would have made several changes to the Arizona election process, such as allowing ballots dropped off by voters in Maricopa County to be counted on-site, if the ballots were dropped off at an early voting location after 7:00 p.m. on the Friday before Election Day. For the state’s other 14 counties, voters would be required to show identification if they drop off their mail-in ballot at a polling location after the Friday before Election Day. They would also have the choice to drop off their ballot at the Country Recorder’s Office.
In addition, the legislation would have added three additional days of early voting that were previously limited to emergency voting only. It was modeled after similar bills that were enacted in Florida and Georgia, both of which actually increased the number of early ballots cast.
“When Florida was a swing state, Florida still, with their larger population, had their results in far ahead of Arizona,” said Arizona Republican Party Chair Gina Swoboda.
“After the election, we heard from our constituents who were extremely frustrated after waiting days and days to find out who won the election,” said State Senate President Warren Petersen said when announcing the legislation. “The first bill to hit the Governor’s desk is a bill that will give us election results the night of the election.”
Governor Katie Hobbs speaking with attendees at the 2024 Legislative Forecast Luncheon hosted by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona
Photo: Gage Skidmore
Hobbs, however, promised to veto the bill after claiming that it seeks to “disenfranchise voters” despite the fact that the bill expands early voting and speeds up ballot counting. “Legislators are attempting to jam through a partisan bill that guts vote by mail and makes it harder to vote. I offered common sense compromises to count votes faster, and they were rejected. I refuse to let extremists make it harder for Arizonans to vote,” the governor said last week, according to Fox 10 Phoenix.
After Hobbs made good on her promise to veto the bill, Petersen criticized the act as a “huge mistake” and assured constituents that a backup plan is in place. “This was a missed opportunity to increase voter confidence and reduce frustration on election night,” the State Senate president wrote in a press release. “Instead of working with Republicans in good-faith to provide much-needed reforms to our election processes, the Governor impeded all efforts to ensure Arizona can report the vast majority of votes on Election Night.”
The release continued, “I promised the people of Arizona that this Legislature would be committed to making commonsense and proven changes to our election processes, and my colleagues and I remain resolved to achieve that goal.”
In order to override Hobbs’ veto, Republicans would need to pick off a few Democrat defectors, as the GOP falls just short of the required two-thirds threshold in both chambers of congress.
If that does not materialize, the matter could be left to the voters by referring the legislation to to the ballot through a concurrent resolution, which does not require the governor’s signature. On Monday, a proposal to do just that passed in the state House.
“Status quo for our state’s elections is not an option,” Petersen said. “Arizona should never again be the laughingstock of the nation for its woefully slow election reporting. Our caucus will be discussing a path forward on this issue in the days and weeks ahead.”
