“There have been irregularities
in our elections, sometimes even fraud, but never to an extent that it affected the outcome. We should all be proud of that, and respect the decision of the majority even when we disagree with it. Especially when we disagree with it.”
– Sen. John McCain
John McCain would be ashamed of some things going on at the Arizona Legislature – actions being taken in the name of addressing alleged election fraud.
The traditional, good faith practices of finding better candidates and developing better policies and ideas to appeal to more voters are being cast aside for a dispiriting, anti-democratic effort to pass laws that hinder – rather than promote – voter participation.
The Arizona Citizens’ Clean Elections Commission is a nonpartisan organization created by voters more than two decades ago when they passed the Citizens Clean Elections Act in 1998.
In passing the Act, the voters identified two critical concepts. First, the intent of the Act was to “encourage citizen participation in the political process.” A second intent is “to improve the integrity of Arizona state government and promote public confidence in the Arizona political process.”
The Act also creates the Citizens Clean Elections Commission consisting of five commissioners. Currently, there are two Republicans, two Democrats and an Independent. The Commission is non-partisan and it works to implement the intent of the Act.
As commissioners, when we observe a concerted and focused effort to make it more difficult for Arizonans to vote and participate in the political process, that is something we are obligated to oppose.
We see that happening now.
Many members of our Legislature want to keep perceived unfriendly voters out of the election process.
There are numerous bills in this session of the Arizona Legislature that make it more difficult for Arizonans to vote and they lack the integrity of fair and robust elections.
We oppose these bills.
These bills address early voting procedures and voter registration, the favored voting procedure in Arizona, as about 80 percent of Arizona voters prefer to vote by mail.
However, those who cast early ballots are a major source of concern for some of our Arizona legislators.
Most of those early voters receive an early ballot automatically because they signed up for the Permanent Early Voter List (PEVL). But new proposed legislation is aimed at removing names from the PEVL and making it more difficult to vote early. These bills include:
- HB 2560: Would remove Arizonans from the PEVL if they didn’t use their early ballot in one general election. If you change your mind and vote at the polls, or misplace your early ballot and vote at the polls, then you are off the PEVL until you sign up again.
- SB 1485: Would remove Arizonans from the PEVL if they don’t vote an early ballot in two consecutive primary and general elections. This bill targets Independents who frequently skip voting in a primary because they incorrectly assume the primary is open only to voters registered with a political party.
- SB 1003: Would require that voters who forget to sign their early ballot would have only until 7 p.m. on Election Day to fix the error. People who vote ballots that are not early have five more days to correct such errors.
- SB 1593: Early ballots would go out five days later than now. And they would have to be returned earlier – postmarked the Thursday before the election, compared with the current rule that they have to be received by 7 p.m. Election Day. The effect is to give people less time to cast an early ballot.
- SB 1713: Instead of just signing their early ballot to prove their identity, voters would have to provide an affidavit with their date of birth and driver’s license number. If they don’t have that, they have to provide their voter registration number or a copy of something showing their address.
Legislators also want to make it more difficult to register to vote:
- SB 1358: Would prohibit county recorders from registering voters anyplace that is not government property. This negatively impacts the ability to reach out to register voters where they live, such as isolated Native American reservations or rural communities.
There are many more bills that seek to make it more difficult to register and vote for no legitimate reason. There is simply no basis for a democratic form of government to actively attempt to limit a citizen’s right to vote. This is unconscionable.
We want to make one thing crystal clear: our opposition is not political. We are charged with standing up for the rights of Arizona voters. That is our only concern.
We want voting in Arizona to continue to be safe, secure and convenient – free of contrived barriers designed to make voting more difficult. Elections must be won or lost based on candidates and their ideas – not on who successfully navigates a maze of unfair and unnecessary rules.
Please take the time to give these bills some thought, develop your own opinions and contact your legislator with your position. In other words, we encourage you to participate in the political process and to help improve the integrity of our elections.
Mark Kimble of Tucson is a retired journalist and registered Independent. Damien Meyer of Phoenix is an attorney and registered Democrat. Both are appointed members of the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission.
This article appears in Mar 25-31, 2021.
I just love how you frame the discussion “restricting the vote.” Truth is election laws were put in place to do just that. Restrict ineligible voters. But as our country’s history is being removed, even the language definitions have been replaced. We must go the polls en masse and show photo ID if we want fair and honest elections.
Otherwise our votes are being stolen. By the way what did the Maricopa County Elections audit prove to all of us?
Seems to me these bills aren’t designed to restrict so much as they are to assure legitimate elections.
A new poll shows 75% of Americans know we need photo ID to keep elections fair. The old lie that the poor can’t get ID is garbage. Poor illegals have it.
I see by the comments that The Big Lie has brought the crazies out of the woodwork. The Big Lie was the catalyst for the January 6th Insurrection. Have the skeptics not figured out that our Republican majority legislature was elected with the same ballots that elected Joe Biden?
This fake election controversy reminds me of a quote by a Republican in Congress from 1954, “Don’t confuse me with the facts. My mind is already made up.”
Some things never change.
As these comments reveal, the points of view have hardened. On the one side are those who probably believe Arizona’s mail in ballots work fine. Let’s keep things as they are. (Me…at 85, with dangers of Covid-19 to deal with, I want to stay home, receive my ballot and mail it in.
On the other side are those who believe there’s massive fraud and would like to make it more difficult to vote by requiring proof of citizenship, and if possible, less mail ins.
Easy to see which side each writer is on. I wonder which party each belongs to?
Republicans have spent around 100M$ of taxpayer money on 46 voter fraud investigations since the Bush administration. You say you haven’t heard of them? Or maybe you heard they were going to launch some? Well, when they find no evidence of this massive fraud, or even significant minor amounts, they just don’t announce the finding in the news and most people never hear, .. they found nothing. Well, one out of every 10,000,000 votes or so.
So when you hear about laws being proposed to stop this non-existent fraud, yes, they’re only there for the purpose of restricting the vote. Or as republicans have stated publicly, “If we let every one vote, we’ll never win elections.”
McCain would be ashamed? Can we stop beating a dead shetland pony?
How much did Democrats spend on the whole Russia Russia Russia hoax that they actually created? Next let’s talk about CV19 and who helped finance production.
Tens of billions for you guys worried about waste. All to recapture power and bring America to bankruptcy.
Good job!
Interesting that the commissioners who authored this are a Democrat and an independent… none of the Republicans are speaking up.
If Trump had won, the GOP would not be so concerned about election “integrity”.
Their concern now is only that too many Democrats voted.
Political parties not with standing there are only two types of politicians: Those who honestly, faithfully and selflessly represent all of their constituents without a thought of rewards, and those who pragmatically, blindly and selfishly represent only those constituents who promise the greatest rewards.
Whether a local sheriff or the President of the United States, you can tell what kind of politician each is by the fruits of their labor, from a quiet, respectful law-abiding community to a riotous, hate-filled lawless wasteland, their words and deeds will either serve the people or serve themselves.
It must be a lonely life to be a right wing Republican. You hate it when people actually exercise their own power. You don’t like brown people, nor black people voting. You don’t want any woman making their own reproductive decisions. You don’t like green energy. The only things they apparently like is giving more money to the already affluent, and a theocratic authoritarian government.
While I truly appreciate vote-by-mail, I see no problem with removing someone from the rolls if they haven’t voted in two consecutive sets of primary and general elections. I’ve never missed an election in my life… why send someone a ballot if they haven’t actually voted? It’s a waste of taxpayer money!
I don’t blame those who believed the Big Lie, and then tried to defend our country. They believed the lies from the Big Liar.