GOP secretary of state candidate promotes ballot measure to make Arizona voting rules stricter

PHOENIX — The Republican state lawmaker pushing forward a new effort to get the Arizona Secure Election Act on the ballot said he hopes to tighten up the state’s election system.

“First of all, I think the voters of Arizona deserve to know who won their elections on election night,” Arizona Rep. Alexander Kolodin told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News on Wednesday.

He said the Arizona Secure Elections Act will also address issues he has with how the state handles campaign financing and voting by mail.

“I think we … need to close the federal loophole and keep foreign funding and influence out of our Arizona elections,” Kolodin added. “And I also think that we need to shore up the law to make sure that the right mail-in ballot is getting to the right voter.”

Arizona Secure Election Act pushes for stricter voting laws

The Scottsdale legislator is the only Republican to have filed a statement of interest to run next year for secretary of state, an office currently held by Democrat Adrian Fontes. Kolodin recently announced that he secured the signatures needed to appear on the 2026 Republican primary ballot.

He explained that the Arizona Secure Election Act would put new restrictions on voters who drop off their early ballots them close to Election Day.

“If you get a ballot by mail and you want to return it in person to the polls on Election Day, you got to do that by 7 p.m. on the Friday before the election,” Kolodin said.

He said his legislation also addresses concerns from critics who have said this would place burdens on rural voters who live far away from polling locations.

“Now, in order to make that even easier for voters to do, we also put a requirement in the bill that there be conveniently located polling places,” Kolodin said. “Some of our rural or tribal communities (have) complained a lot about having to drive 50 miles to get to the polls. We want to make that a little bit better.”

However, the legislation does not define what qualifies as a “convenient” location, how new polling sites will be funded or when they will be established.

His proposed legislation also says votes can’t be cast or accepted after polls close on Election Day, although that provision is already enshrined in Arizona law.

Additionally, early voters would have to contact officials to reaffirm their addresses.

“Voters could call in or go online and just confirm their residential address by saying, ‘Yeah, I still wanted a ballot at this address,’ because I know that a complaint that we’ve gotten a lot in the house is voters getting other people’s ballots in their mail or voters not getting their own ballot,” Kolodin said. “You’d have to do it every two years.”

Related

Maricopa County attorney Rachel Mitchell accuses Arizona lawmaker of spreading falsehoodsRepublicans introduce legislation to put Arizona Secure Elections Act on ballotJudge rejects Maricopa County recorder's request to stop election system auditMaricopa County hires outside firm to conduct independent review of election processArizona voters to choose Republican and Democratic nominees for top education positionAndy Biggs, David Schweikert offer competing visions for Republican Party in Arizona primary