For those of you that are PC’s in Maricopa County, you will be voting to elect new County leadership on January 12. For those of you at are State Committeemen you will be doing the same for the state on January 26th
The state and Maricopa County Bylaws are so out of sync with state laws as to be laughable. Even though the County Bylaws, Article 1, Section 2 provides that the Bylaws shall not be in conflict with Arizona State Laws. As many of you know, I have repeatedly pointed out those inconsistencies. Prior county leadership has simply chosen to ignore those inconsistencies.
Arizona Revised Statute 16-102 provides as follows: 16-102. Power of attorney; prohibited use
A power of attorney or other form of proxy is not valid for use by a personin any procedure or transaction concerning elections, including voter registration, petition circulation or signature, voter registration cancellation, early ballot requests or voting another person’s ballot.
There are many other similar provisions where the Bylaws simply are in conflict with state laws. And yet, our leadership and Bylaws Committees simply chose to ignore the state laws as they are not convenient.
In my opinion leadership simply does not provide the PC with the necessary support to do their job. When was the last time you went to an orientation meeting at the county or district level and received a thorough grounding on state laws and bylaws? Probably never. When was the last time the county or state provided you with the necessary information and advertising materials to allow you to walk your precincts and talk to voters. Probably never.
Maricopa County has two candidates for County Chair, Rae Chornenky and Itasca Small. What do you know about either of them? What has either of them told you they are going to do about bringing our Bylaws into compliance with state law? What has either of them told you they are going to do to make your job easier in walking your precinct?
It is time for them to speak up and to put into practice programs to assist the PC.
When you attend the meeting on January 12th, pay attention to the proxy vote. I predict that approximately 40% of the votes will be by power of attorney (proxy) which are prohibited by the state law cited above. Most of those votes cast by power of attorney will be from persons living within 20-25 miles of the meeting place. Why is it that you can attend but they cannot? Should thy not have to give a reason?