Sen. Sonny Borelli isn’t the first lawmaker to accuse Governor Katie Hobbs of recklessly vetoing bills, but on Tuesday he became the latest.
Majority Leader Borrelli is calling out Hobbs for what he says is “her continued blatant political games after she vetoed a bill that would have established oversight, security and transparency on electronic voting systems.”
SB1074 would have created standards for electronic equipment when used as the primary method for tabulating votes in any election. This bill would have required equipment to meet or exceed the standards set by the U.S. Department of Defense and would have put oversight in the hands of the auditor general and the counties.
According to the Legislative Overview, SB1074
Prohibits the use of electronic voting equipment as the primary method for tabulating votes in any city, town, county, state or federal election unless:
a) the equipment meets or exceeds the standards set by the U.S. Department of Defense regarding cybersecurity;
b) all parts of the equipment are manufactured in the United States; and
c) all source codes for the equipment are submitted and maintained on file by the Auditor General.
Upon request of the Legislature, or by a county board of supervisors, the auditor general would have been required to provide source codes, which act as a blueprint to determine and reveal how the machines will behave. For matters involving Superior Court action, in which the tabulation of votes is in question, the bill would’ve allowed the court to appoint a special master to review the source codes for the equipment.
“In her veto letter, Governor Hobbs stated the election equipment required by the bill does not exist. This is in fact a lie,” said Borrelli in a press release. “The equipment exists, but the components are made in the People’s Republic of China and other non-friendly countries. She’s pushing the idea that the United States of America could not onshore the manufacturing of tabulation equipment, which is absolutely absurd. There is nothing the American workforce cannot do given the right opportunities.”
“Furthermore, Governor Hobbs falsely stated that this bill purports to solve a problem that does not exist. I beg to differ,” added Borrelli. “Any electronic device can be manipulated to have a certain outcome. You need source codes to determine this, but they’re not being provided with the current system. You would think the former Secretary of State would know that in 2013, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security designated elections systems as critical infrastructure. This means these systems should be subjected to the same national security standards that the U.S. Department of Defense would apply to any critical infrastructure. Having a third-party vendor with total autonomy is not good for security, voter confidence, nor democracy. This bill would have taken the politics out of the voting process and created a neutral party that works for the Legislature. Fair and honest elections are a bi-partisan concern, albeit only when Democrats are the ones to benefit. Hobbs’ obstructive and cavalier attitude has been part of the destruction of transparency and oversight within our elections.”
This is such a good Bill!
EVERY SINGLE DEMOCRAT on the House Elections committee voted for it on the floor
The Bill holds signatures to the standard that @katiehobbs wrote in 2020
Should be the easiest signature of her entire tenure – and the FIRST elections bill signed in '23 https://t.co/eVKDdweaqC
— Ari Daniel Bradshaw (@AriBradshawAZ) April 5, 2023
Hobbs has vetoed dozens of bills in her short tenure, even those with bipartisan support.
Hobbs stunned both Democrats and Republicans alike when she vetoed HB 2322, a bipartisan-supported election reform bill, sponsored by State Representative Alexander Kolodin, that would codify in state law specific signature verification rules to confirm the identity of early voters – rules that were written by the Governor when she served as Arizona’s Secretary of State.