Here’s why GOP Arizona state Sen. Paul Boyer sinks some election bills
Jun 7, 2022, 10:23 AM | Updated: 11:53 am
Arizona state Sen. Paul Boyer at the KTAR News studio in Phoenix on June 7, 2022. (KTAR News and Getty Images Photos)
(KTAR News and Getty Images Photos)
PHOENIX – Arizona state Sen. Paul Boyer explained Tuesday why he doesn’t always vote with his fellow Republicans on election-related bills.
Boyer told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show some of the legislation he opposes was “mislabeled” as promoting voter integrity, while other proposals could have unintended consequences.
“Anything that deals with voter ID or cleaning up the voter rolls, I’m 100% on board with,” said Boyer, who chose not to seek reelection this year.
“But anything that makes it harder to implement the election process, then I’m not going to support.”
He pointed to a stalled proposal to eliminate early voting and tabulating machines and require ballots to be counted by hand by 9 p.m. on Election Day, something elections officials have said would be impossible, especially in large counties.
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer estimated it would take 1,000 workers 93 days, working 24 hours a day, to hand count 60 races on 2 million ballots.
How many man hours that is. Divide that number by however many people you have working, and that's my estimate for how many days it would take to hand count the ballots.
e.g. assume 1,000 workers and 24-hour work days
= 93 days
— Stephen Richer—Maricopa Cnty Recorder (prsnl acct) (@stephen_richer) May 25, 2022
“I mean, it’s just something that’s not workable, for example, but, by the way, I think that bill should go on the board,” he said.
“I’m not going to support it, but I think it deserves an up or down vote.”
Boyer said he rejected legislation to require video monitoring at all ballot drop boxes because it would require funding, and he didn’t think it should take precedence over other “money bills.”
With Republicans holding a narrow 16-14 advantage in the Senate, Boyer can keep any bill he opposes from passing if it doesn’t have bipartisan support. Democrats are generally united in their opposition of GOP bills they see as attempts to suppress voting by groups that tend to favor Democrats.
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