Arizona Senate Committee accuses Clean Elections of unlawful debate rule change

PHOENIX — The Arizona Senate Committee claimed on Thursday that the Clean Elections Commission has illegally barred the Green Party’s U.S. Senate candidate from participating in upcoming general election debates.

Eduardo Quintana, 2024 Arizona Senate candidate and chair of the Green Party in Pima County, won his side of the primary as a write-in candidate but is not featured in the Oct. 9 debate to be broadcasted across several platforms by Arizona Media Association. As is, the scheduled debate will feature Republican Kari Lake and Democrat U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego.

The accusation was submitted via letter by Committee Chairman Jake Hoffman in response to Clean Elections’ recent rule change that requires a candidate to have received at least 1% of total ballots counted in their primary election. According to Arizona Media Association, that 1% minimum threshold was 12,400 votes for Quintana, who only garnered 282.

The state committee said their research discovered the adopted rule was not submitted for approval to the Governor’s Regulatory Review Council. In effect, this alleged procedural error violated Proposition 306, a 2018 voter-approved bill which permits and invites all candidates to take part in debates.

“At best, the Clean Elections Commission seems to be creatively, yet intentionally, blocking some candidates from participating in the debate, not to mention subverting the will of the voters to require proper transparency in agency actions through the Administrative Procedures Act,” Hoffman said in a press release. “At worst, the taxpayer-funded Commission has knowingly broken the law.”

🚨 AZ Elections Commission exposed allegedly rigging the U.S. Senate debates to help Democrat Ruben Gallego against Republican @KariLake

Today, as the Chairman of the AZ Senate Committee on Government, I opened an investigation into allegations that the @AZCCEC illegally engaged… pic.twitter.com/Gnv72PZrmh

— Jake Hoffman (@JakeHoffmanAZ) September 5, 2024

Hoffman, in a supplementary X post, said that he believes Clean Elections is allegedly “rigging” the U.S. Senate debate to help Gallego and that voters deserve an explanation for the change.

Lake said that all candidates, regardless of their popularity in the polls, should be able to appear in the general election debate. The former Fox 10 Phoenix anchor appeared on KTAR News’ 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Aug. 28 and said everyone who is on the ballot should “be present and able to make their case.”

Chris Kline, president and CEO of Arizona Media Association, responded to backlash and reaffirmed support of the new debate requirement in an Aug. 30 press release, saying the media group is proud to support the upcoming October matchup of Lake and Gallego.

The senate committee investigation is ongoing.