Arizona lawmakers propose multiple plans to speed up election results

PHOENIX – Arizona lawmakers have been busy filing a slew of proposed election reforms, including multiple plans designed to speed up results, during the early days of the new legislative session.

A Thursday morning keyword search of the Arizona Legislature database showed about two dozen bills or resolutions with election, ballot and/or voting in the titles.

One of the proposed election reforms for the new legislative session, which started Monday, is Senate President Warren Petersen’s SB1011.

On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Elections advanced the bill, which Petersen prefiled in December.

Chief among the provisions is a deadline for dropping off early ballots at a voting location of 7 p.m. on the Friday before Election Day. It wouldn’t affect the deadline for early ballots returned by mail, which must reach election offices before the polls close at 7 p.m. on Election Day.

Under the current system, voters can drop off early ballots in person until the polls close. The late early ballots can take up to a week or more to process because they need to go through signature verification before tabulation.

As a result, it can take days for enough ballots to be counted to determine winners in close races.

“We want to make sure we have night-of-election results,” Petersen, a Republican, told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Monday.

Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Thomas Galvin, a Republican who previously put forward a plan to speed up election results, issued a statement supporting Petersen’s election reforms on Wednesday.

“I’m thankful the Legislature has heard my call and put forth Senate Bill 1011, which will remove administrative burdens on county election workers and make early voting truly early again, all while continuing to give Arizona voters ample time and opportunity to cast their ballots how they choose,” Galvin said.

On the other hand, multiple voting rights advocacy groups have come out against the bill, including Our Voice, Our Vote Arizona.

“Our state legislators were elected to make our lives easier, not make it harder for Arizonans to vote,” Sena Mohammed, the group’s executive director, said in a statement Wednesday. “SB1011 is a voter suppression bill that takes away our freedom to submit early ballots on Election Day, making our elections less free and less fair.”

Would Gov. Katie Hobbs sign proposed election reforms?

Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs has signaled that she won’t sign any bills that restrict voting access, which could mean SB1011 is destined to be vetoed if the Legislature sends it to her desk.

However, Republicans, who control both chambers of the the state’s lawmaking body, can bypass Hobbs by passing a concurrent resolution to put proposed election reforms before voters in the form of a ballot measure.

That’s what Rep. Alexander Kolodin, a member of the Arizona Freedom Caucus, is trying to do with HCR2013. The legislation is modeled after Florida’s voting system, which is known for producing some of the nation’s most complete results on Election Day.

In addition to echoing the ballot drop-off deadline from SB1011 and including other election reforms, HCR2013 has a provision to ban foreign funding of Arizona election administration.

“This important resolution will facilitate the critical objective of making Arizona’s elections more secure and eliminate foreign influence, all while delivering results on election night,” Sen. Jake Hoffman, chairman of the Arizona Freedom Caucus, said in a press release Tuesday.

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