Arizona has recently come under fire for failing to deliver election results to voters on election day. And owing to Democrat Governor’s most recent action. Katie Hobbs, that’s going to be the state’s real for the near future.
Legislation ( HB 2703 ) that was approved by Arizona’s GOP-controlled legislature on Tuesday vetoed by Hobbs. The bill sought to improve election officials ‘ ability to deliver timely results to voters. Next week, the measure received party-line votes in the state House and Senate, with Republicans supporting the measure and Democrats opposing it.
A delivery that raises the date by which citizens must returning early ballots is one of the most notable modifications proposed in HB 2703. Arizona’s soon production of election results is largely due to an issue within existing law, which allows voters to cut off their first mail ballots by 7 p.m. on Election Day, according to Arizona GOP Chair Gina Swoboda recently telling The Federalist.
In Arizona, all first poll voters are  , required , to provide their name on the ballot box oath, which is then compared to the one in their registration information. When poll workers confirm the petitions match, the vote is , processed and tabulated.
The week of the Nov. 5, 2024 presidential election, election authorities estimated Maricopa County only received more than 200, 000 early vote from voting places on Election Day. The above signature verification procedure, which took weeks for Maricopa County authorities, was required for all of those Maricopa earlier ballots, as well as those that were returned on Election Day in different counties.
HB 2703 was proposed to address this issue in an Arizona House GOP press release by” [s ] etting a firm deadline for early ballots returned at voting locations—7: 00 PM on the Friday before Election Day to ensure prompt processing and reduce late ballot backlogs” [emphasis added ]. Also, the bill sought to make it possible for counties to “provide on-site calculation during early election, including on the Saturday and Monday before Election Day.”
The Arizona Senate revised state laws in 2022 to accept counties to employ “on-site tabulation” for early votes, although none of the country’s 15 localities apparently chose to do so prior to the 2024 election.
Speaking with The Federalist, Arizona House Speaker Steve Montenegro noted additional provisions in HB 2703 geared towards improving Arizona’s elections, including enhancements to chain of custody rules for in-person early ballots and address verification requirements for early mail voters” to make sure we’re sending]early ballots ] to the right]people], and not sending it to two locations or the wrong location”. The bill also includes a provision effectively , requiring , that schools be available as polling locations during elections.
” When we close those loopholes, we can make sure that we have a better process”, Montenegro said. This is about “restoring the public trust ]and ] showing that we can have efficient-run elections”.
In her veto, Hobbs regurgitated baseless Democrat talking points that HB 2703 “needlessly restrict]s ] Arizona citizens ‘ freedom to vote”, and fear-mongered that the bill’s provision requiring schools to serve as polling sites “undermine]s ] the learning and safety of students in public school districts”. The Democrat governor also claimed that she had previously suggested” compromises” that would “increase voter freedom while accelerating election results,” a claim she made last week when she first voiced her opposition to the bill.
” I offered common sense compromises to count votes faster, and they were rejected”, Hobbs wrote in a Feb. 13 statement.
According to Montenegro, however, Hobbs ‘ claims that her proposals would” count votes faster” don’t hold water. The House speaker noted that the “ideas] Hobbs ] presented” to Republican lawmakers were “nonstarters”.
This is confirmed by correspondence from Hobbs ‘ office to GOP legislators and Swoboda. In the Feb. 7 email obtained by Votebeat Arizona, Hobbs General Counsel Bo Dul is documented, in part, proposing a series of” trade-offs” in which the governor would potentially sign a bill moving up the early ballot drop-off deadline only if the final legislation included leftist-backed priorities such as same-day voter registration.
With Democrats, “it’s a narrative that’s always perpetuated that they want to ease up on]so-called ] ‘ voter suppression”,’ Montenegro said. ” Actually, when we don’t have elections that respect voters, that’s voter suppression —]because ] people lose trust and don’t want to show up and vote”.
Despite Hobbs ‘ veto of HB 2703, Arizona Republicans aren’t giving up on moving forward with ideas that could help the state’s delayed election results production.
The GOP-controlled legislature is fast-tracking a resolution ( HCR 2013 ) containing many of the provisions within HB 2703 that, if passed by both chambers, would go to voters as a ballot initiative in the 2026 midterm elections. The provision of HB 2703 that moves the early ballot return deadline to the Friday before Election Day is included in the proposal.
HCR 2013 was approved by the House on Monday in a party-line vote, and it is now up for Senate consideration.
For more election news and updates, visit , electionbriefing.com.
Shawn Fleetwood is a graduate of the University of Mary Washington and a staff writer for The Federalist. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClear Health, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
