Richer Praises Kavanagh Bill “Designed To Demonstrate That Hand Counts Can Work”

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{Photo via Maricopa County social media]

A bill, S.B. 1471sponsored by Senator John Kavanagh, has earned rare praise from Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, who has earned a reputation as an election integrity obstructionist.

“My bill is designed to demonstrate that hand counts can work and will bring more transparency and trust into the process,” Sen. Kavanagh told the Arizona Daily Independent.

As explained by Richer, S.B. 1471 would create “test decks” of ballots from four random, high-turnout precincts that contain all the races from the 2022 general election. All races of these ballots will be hand-counted by a team of Republicans and Democrats, and they will also go through a tabulator. This information will be used to look at the amount of time a hand-count on a larger scale may take and the accuracy of that count. The information will be provided to the governor, senate president, house speaker and the county recorder, along with a copy for the secretary of state.

“Smart legislation is key to improving Arizona’s elections and voters’ trust,” said Richer in a press release. “S.B. 1471 proposes a ‘man vs. machine’ test by comparing a machine count of ballots with a bipartisan hand-count of the same ballots. This legislation will build confidence in our election system by showing that machine tabulation is highly accurate, free of bias, and fast. Thanks to Senator Kavanagh for this good idea.”

Political observers expect Richer to attempt an aggressive image makeover with his own re-election approach in about 18 months. “You can expect to see Richer suddenly start supporting ideas to fix things. He knows how unpopular he is with voters right now.” said one GOP activist.

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