KTAR town hall panelists weigh on Prop 144, a ballot measure about elections

KTAR News 92.3 FM hosted a town hall Tuesday night called “The Issues That Matter” that had former lawmakers and community leaders break down some of the propositions that will be on the ballot this November.

Panelists discussed Proposition 144, which would amend the Arizona Constitution to require that voters provide government-issued IDs to cast a ballot, whether in person or by mail. It would also prohibit foreign nationals from contributing to Arizona elections and require that voters be given the option to have their votes tabulated at voting locations on Election Day.

Former Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson, chair of the No Labels Party, said he opposes Prop 144 because he wants voting to be accessible to every single American, as easy as possible and secure.

“I don’t think those things have to be indifferent to one another,” Johnson said during the town hall. “Now, the idea that you have to show ID to vote doesn’t bother me. But I’ll tell you what does bother me: If you decide to cast your vote at home through a mail-in ballot, I don’t know how you sit there at your kitchen table and somehow or another provide ID.”

He also said he is suspicious there could be other motives related to the push to curtail voting by mail.

“It doesn’t make sense to me because I’ve been around elections for long enough to know that Republicans can do really well at mail-in ballots,” Johnson said. “I have watched them over and over again, sometimes to my chagrin, they can do very well at the process, and somehow or another that’s become a dividing point. It doesn’t make sense to me. And so for me, on this one, specifically because they did nothing to tell you what they’re going to do to make certain that early ballots are somehow or another not going to be impacted by this, I’m a no vote.”

The former mayor added that he thinks Arizona is one of the best states when it comes to voting by mail and thinks it should be the example for other states.

Panelist Raquel Terán, a former state lawmaker and state Democratic Party chair, also opposes Prop 144, suggesting it is a form of voter suppression by Republicans.

“I think that voters will say no to this because they also do love voting early,” she said.

Panelist Justin Harris, former Arizona Police Association president, said he is looking at Prop 144 from a law enforcement perspective.

He said the public would be surprised how often police get calls from people saying they received multiple mail ballots at their addresses. He also questioned the signature verification process.

“We need to start looking at how can we make sure this is more accurate. People should be registering, in my opinion, at least to vote every couple of years to make sure that … their address, their information is current and up to date, so there’s not this overlap and somebody opens their mailbox and you’re like, ‘Whoa, this is crazy,'” Harris said.

Harris said it should not be a partisan issue, and it’s not something limited to Arizona.

“We want safe, secure elections. We want to know that our votes count, our votes matter. How we do it? Right now, I don’t know of a single state that’s doing it right,” he said.

The town hall was presented by Empower and in partnership with Arizona Talks.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Kevin Stone contributed to this report.

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