FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, February 5, 2024
Republican Lawmakers Introduce Comprehensive Solution
to Correct Election Deadline Conflicts and Strengthen Voter Confidence
PHOENIX, ARIZONA— After months of research, discussions, and negotiations between lawmakers, elections experts, and administrators from all 15 Arizona counties, Senate and House Republicans announce a comprehensive solution introduced today to correct unintended election deadline conflicts arising from past legislation.
In 2022, SB1008 (elections; recount margin) was signed into law with overwhelming bipartisan support in an effort to improve voter confidence on tight races. Under the law, automatic recounts in statewide elections are triggered when the margin of victory is within half of one percentage point of total votes cast, bringing Arizona in line with several other states. The previous law required an arbitrary and much narrower margin of just 200 votes before a recount could occur. The change is expected to increase the number of recounts in our battleground state. Subsequently, counties informed Senate and House Leadership Teams in late September 2023 that there would be potential delays in results, preventing counties from meeting several important federal deadlines:
· Mandatory mailing deadline (September 21, 2024) to send out November 2024 General Election Ballots to military and overseas citizens (UOCAVA)
· Safe Harbor (December 10, 2024) & Presidential Electors Meeting (December 16, 2024)
SB1733/HB2785 establishes a permanent fix while ensuring every legal ballot cast is counted accurately to make certain the correct candidate, or ballot measure, is declared winner. The bill provides counties with an extra 19 days in the primary election calendar and an extra 17 days in the general election calendar to give officials more time to meet federal deadlines. Additionally, the bill provides a number of time-saving reforms that encourage efficiency, transparency, and most importantly-- integrity within our election systems.
“This commonsense solution promises to strengthen voter confidence, is backed by all Arizona county recorders, and allows our men and women who are serving in our armed forces overseas the opportunity cast a ballot in our elections,” said Senate Elections Committee Chair Wendy Rogers. “I’m hopeful this legislation will receive bipartisan support and the Governor will sign it. Anything less will throw our elections into turmoil and disenfranchise lawful Arizona voters.”
“There were many simpler ways to solve this problem, some of which do not require legislative solutions,” said Representative Alexander Kolodin, Sponsor of HB2785. “Nevertheless, we negotiated in good faith and agreed to accept this more complicated solution in exchange for signature verification and several other commonsense reforms. It should be noted that the problem this bill seeks to avoid is highly unlikely to occur in 2024.”
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For more information, contact:
Kim Quintero
Director of Communications | Arizona State Senate Republican Caucus
Andrew Wilder
Director of Communications | Arizona State House of Representatives Republican Caucus
All Arizona county recorders endorse this commonsense approach, which gives men and women serving in our armed forces overseas the right to vote in elections and promises to boost voter trust. drift boss game
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