On Friday, the Arizona GOP filed a Special Action with the Arizona Supreme Court asking for it to consider the underlying constitutional issues surrounding recent abuses they allege have been committed by Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs. In short, the Party claims that “Arizona’s “early voting” statutes—which provide for “absentee” or “no-excuse mail-in” voting—violate the Arizona Constitution, in whole or in part.”
“Absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud,” concluded a report from a bipartisan commission co-chaired by President Jimmy Carter and James Baker III, former President George H. W. Bush’s secretary of state.
Experts agree that little has changed since that report was issued in 2005. In fact, due to the recent pandemic, many standards put in place to ensure that mail voting could not be abused were lifted for convenience.
The Arizona Republican Party shares the concerns outlined in the 2005 report, and has consistently over the years since expressed concerns over the security of mail-in voting. The framers of Arizona’s constitution also shared these concerns, which is why our constitution requires that official ballots be distributed “at the polls[,]” and that voting be limited to one day.
“Many states with similar provisions have amended their constitutions to allow for mail-in voting. Yet in 1991, Arizona’s politicians gave us an insecure system of no- excuse mail in voting without taking this necessary step. Now Secretary Hobbs has taken this unconstitutional act and run with it, authorizing unmonitored drop-boxes without any legal authority and failing to even provide lawful procedures for verifying signatures on early ballots. Enough is enough,” said AZGOP attorney Alexander Kolodin.
The debate over the integrity of our elections has been divisive because it has been led by politicians. But among ordinary Arizonans there is consensus: Polling data shows that early voting is popular but that, ultimately, voters care more about security than convenience. As our framers recognized, only constitutional protections, put in place by the people, are sufficient to secure our elections. It is time to return power to the people and allow Arizonans to build upon this consensus by deciding via constitutional amendment whether to authorize early voting and, if so, what procedural safeguards the system needs to merit inclusion in the Arizona Constitution.
“Republicans have been leading the charge for election integrity in recent years, but ensuring our laws are followed and our election results are accurate and reliable is not a partisan goal.” said Sergio Arellano, a leader in the Arizona Republican Party and the runner-up in the last AZGOP State Chairman’s race. “It is right that the courts intervene, require our laws to be followed, and provide clarity on some critical questions about our election process.”
“Perhaps what dismays me the most is the lack of political will to secure elections in Arizona,” Arizona State Senator Kelly Townsend told the Arizona Daily Independent. “The thing I hear most from legislators is that voters want convenience and don’t want us to take away mail-in voting, but I know that is not the case. If it violates our Arizona Constitution, then it needs to be addressed. That would be like saying that we should ignore the U.S. Constitution if something is inconvenient. I hope that someday soon there will be enough political courage in this state to do fix our elections. If that won’t happen in the Legislature, perhaps the courts will take care of it.”
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