One of Arizona’s rookie senators made a major gaffe during a recent Breitbart interview while trying to justify her recent no-vote that may have killed the biggest election integrity bill put forth by Republicans this session.
Earlier this month Sen. Kelly Townsend unexpectedly voted no on SB1485 which seeks to remove more than 200,000 voters across Arizona from the permanent early voter list (PEVL) due to their repeated non-use of the early ballots. The clean up of PEVL would have no effect on a voter’s actual registration status.
Townsend took a beating from fellow Republicans after her April 22 vote, in part for a personal attack she made on SB1485 sponsor Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita. She also threatened to not vote for any election reform bills until the completion of the current Senate audit of Maricopa County’s election process.
“Mark my words, and my actions, I will not bend,” she said at the time.
On Tuesday, Breitbart News published an article in which Townsend tried to explain her thought process and rehabilitate her image. However, she put forth critically incorrect information about the effective date of SB1485, one of the legislature’s most substantive election bills this session.
“I demand reform for the 2022 election, and will only vote ‘yes’ on the 2026 election reform bill after the 2022 election reform bills are passed,” Townsend is quoted in the Breitbart News article.
The senator then went on to describe SB1485 as legislation that will not take effect until 2026, “because it will take four years from passage before voters who miss elections will be purged from the voter list to automatically receive absentee ballots.”
However, the Arizona Secretary of State has already identified about 207,000 voters on PEVL across the state’s 15 counties who would have to be notified by their local county recorders no later than January 2023 of plans to remove their names from the PEVL unless the voter makes a written request to remain on the list.
And according to elections law expert Hans von Spakovsky, the January 2023 date would be the last possible date for county recorders to begin the notification and removal process, not their first chance. That means the cleanup could start as soon as the legislation is signed by Gov. Doug Ducey.
“SB1485 will go into effect immediately after passage, not in 2026 as some have claimed,” said von Spakovsky. “County recorders can, and should, lawfully begin cleaning up the early voting list well before the 2022 midterm election, based on voter participation in the 2018 and 2020 election cycles.”
Townsend introduced 18 election bills which went nowhere this session, which she has publicly attributed to Ugenti-Rita “killing all my bills.” By voting no on SB1485, she forced Ugenti-Rita into the embarrassing position of voting against her own legislation in hopes of securing a re-vote in the next week or so.
With Senate Republicans only holding a 16 to 14 majority, Senate President Karen Fann will have to get Townsend back in the fold soon or risk not getting the bill to Ducey’s desk this session.
Jessica Anderson, executive director of Heritage Action, is among those pushing for immediate passage of SB1485.
“As the analysis from The Heritage Foundation shows, any assertions that this bill will be delayed until 2026 are simply incorrect,” Anderson said. “All conservatives should support this bill — we cannot delay in strengthening Arizona’s election system and restoring trust to voters.”
EDITOR NOTE: This article has been updated to reflect the Breitbart interview was published Tuesday, not Monday.