In private meeting, Kolodin admitted bill targets mail-in voting, former AZ GOP chair alleges

PHOENIX — Former Arizona Republican Party Chair Gina Swoboda alleged that her primary opponent for secretary of state, state Rep. Alexander Kolodin, privately acknowledged that a key provision of his election overhaul bill is designed to eliminate mail-in voting in Arizona.

Swoboda, who is challenging Kolodin in the July 21 Republican primary, told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show that she was present during negotiations on the legislation last session when an attorney for Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs raised concerns about the bill’s address-verification requirements.

“One of the attorneys for Governor Hobbs … looked at [Rep. Kolodin] and said, ‘This looks like a bullet in the head to AEVL,'” Swoboda said, referring to the Active Early Voting List, the program that automatically sends ballots to millions of Arizona voters. “And [Kolodin] laughed in her face and said, ‘That’s because it is.'”

“My record protecting Arizonans’ right to accessible, secure, transparent, honest, lawful elections is clear, which is why I’ve successfully passed multiple bipartisan election reforms that were signed into law by Katie Hobbs,” he said. “Unlike Fontes, I will faithfully follow the law as Secretary of State, so that all voters, regardless of political party, can have confidence in both the process and outcome of our elections.”

The allegation strikes at the heart of a heated debate over Kolodin’s Arizona Secure Elections Act, a proposed constitutional amendment that passed the state House 32-27 in February and is advancing in the Senate, where it cleared the Judiciary and Elections Committee on March 18 on a 4-2 vote. If approved by the full Senate, the measure would bypass a veto from Hobbs and go directly to voters on the November ballot.

Kolodin has publicly maintained the legislation would not eliminate mail-in voting. He told a House committee in January that the proposal would simply require voters to confirm their mailing address each election cycle before automatically receiving a ballot.

“Arizonans are tired of excuses and chaos on Election Day,” Kolodin said in a statement when the bill was introduced. “These are straightforward reforms that put voters first.”

But critics, including Democrats and voting-rights groups, have argued the measure’s requirements would effectively dismantle the early-voting list and create barriers so burdensome that many voters would stop casting ballots by mail.

Mail-in voting remains wildly popular in Arizona

That matters in a state where about 84% of voters casted their ballots by mail in the 2024 election, according to state data. A recent Noble Predictive Insights survey of Arizona voters shows they overwhelmingly support mail-in voting.

Swoboda told fill-in host Barry Markson that the proposal would require voters to return a postcard confirming their address and include a photocopy of a government-issued ID with every mail ballot, even if they have already provided identification during registration.

“It’s creating a barrier so high that the effect will be” to discourage mail-in voting, Swoboda said. “He wants to kill the voting list. He wants to kill mail-in ballots.”

She also raised concerns about voter privacy, arguing that requiring a copy of a photo ID to accompany a ballot undermines the principle of the secret ballot.

“In the process of pulling them out and separating them, you know, you can’t help but go, ‘Oh look, there’s so-and-so on my block,'” she said.

Poll shows tight race in Republican primary for secretary of state

The Republican primary for secretary of state is shaping up as a close contest. A Noble Predictive Insights poll conducted in late February showed Kolodin at 17% and Swoboda at 16%, with 67% of likely Republican primary voters undecided.

Swoboda, who stepped down as state party chair in January, initially launched a campaign for Arizona’s 1st Congressional District with an endorsement from President Donald Trump. She switched to the secretary of state race in February, saying the office aligned with her background in election law.

She previously worked in the secretary of state’s office and served as Trump’s election day operations director in 2020.

Kolodin, a Scottsdale attorney and member of the Arizona Freedom Caucus, has represented Legislative District 3 since 2023. He has been a leading voice in the push to remake Arizona’s elections in the model of Florida, where results are reported more quickly.

The winner of the Republican primary will face Democratic incumbent Secretary of State Adrian Fontes in November.

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