On Monday, the Arizona Senate Government Committee passed a number of election reform bills. The controversy surrounding the 2020 General Election in Maricopa County and across the country was clearly on the minds of many of the members of the public who came to address the Committee.
Although many of the bills have been supported by Democrat and Republican members of the public, the votes on Monday fell along party lines, with Republicans voting to pass the reforms and Democrats lined up against any changes.
The bills covered everything from requiring specialized paper to be used in the ballot printing process to allowing voters to vote at the polls for hyper-local elections such as school board races.
After volunteers and officials working on the Arizona Senate’s audit of the 2020 General Election reported finding various types of paper used to create ballots, the desire to use bank note level security measures and specialized paper for ballots became a bipartisan matter in the public square, but not in the Arizona Legislature.
Another bill that has had the public’s bipartisan support, SB1119, requires the publication of ballot images. For years, progressives have tried to make those images a matter of public record so that elections would be transparent and could be audited, but government officials have refused. After the 2020 General Election, support for that idea has increased greatly among moderates and conservatives as well.
Many in attendance were surprised to find out that in certain jurisdictions in Arizona, voters are not able to cast their ballot at the polls and that some of the elections in those jurisdictions, usually for hyper-local races, are generally conducted as only vote by mail elections.
One of the detractors of the effort was retired Lt. Colonel Dana Allmond, who expressed her concerns that the bills addressed problems that she claimed “do not exist.” Allmond succinctly told the Committee, “I was taught if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. We had a safe and secure election. This is a waste of the taxpayers’ money.”
“Today the government committee had robust discussion about several elections bills,” said committee Chair Sen. Kelly Townsend. “I believe we got off to a positive start with many people from both sides of the aisle coming to share their concerns or support. The vast majority were respectful and had much to say. Considering the upheaval of the last year regarding the election process, those who came today were quite respectful. Although a handful complained that the bills were a solution in search of a problem, the amount of concern from the public validated the need for the bills. We have a lot of work still yet to be done and I look forward to working with the committee and the public going forward.”