Senate Bill 1518 may have been seen by many as a bipartisan opportunity to strengthen Arizona’s laws involving the administration of elections. Instead, it triggered a round of infighting and finger pointing after the bill was voted down June 13.
The saga of SB1518 is a good example of the divide on the issue of elections not only among Republicans and Democrats but also among the Republican caucus. The bill was initially introduced by Sen. Ken Bennett (R-Prescott) in January as a “good start” toward rebuilding the public’s confidence in elections.
Since then, Bennett’s bill has been amended three times in hopes of hitting on language that would garner Gov. Katie Hobbs’ approval or hopefully secure enough support to overcome a veto.
But SB1518 hit with a thud in the House on Tuesday after easily clearing the Senate earlier in the day on a bi-partisan vote. One of the chief critics of the current language is attorney Jennifer Wright who previously served as head of the elections integrity unit within the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.
I hope the language is amended with guardrails and the bill is reconsidered.
As it stood, SB1518, imho, would have been the single worst bill for election integrity this state has ever seen. And that’s saying a lot.
Thank you to those who took a stand against SB1518.
3/3
— Jen Wright (@JenWEsq) June 14, 2023
Bennett, a former Secretary of State and former Senate President, knew when he first introduced SB1518 that the language did not contain everything the Republican majority wanted. But the caucus got behind the legislation as a good foothold for pushing additional legislation next year.
Meanwhile, some Democrats saw Bennett’s bill as a chance to tout their support of new election integrity efforts. Now neither side will have that opportunity unless extraordinary concessions are made when the Legislature reconvenes in August.
A key provision of SB1518 involves early ballots, which are those ballots mailed to a voter prior to election day. The Senate initially approved the bill in March, but the House approved an amended version in May.
Both versions would allow certain early ballots that are dropped off at official voting locations to be sent for tabulation without the county recorder conducting signature verification of the voter’s signature on the ballot envelope affidavit.
The signature verification process would be waived under SB1518 if the voter “presents and confirms” their identification at the time the ballot is dropped off.
The change would speed up ballot tabulation by having ID-confirmed ballots go directly to tabulation instead of being held while the county recorder verifies the signature on the affidavit envelope against the voter’s registration file.
The House version approved May 15 included an amendment put forth by Rep. Alex Kolodin (R-Scottsdale) which contained guardrails for how the process of sending early ballots to tabulation without signature verification would work.
The two conflicting versions of SB1518 would normally have been quickly assigned to a bi-partisan conference committee from both chambers to work out the differences. But the Legislature took a four-week spring break starting May 16, putting the election bill on hold.
Undeterred, Bennett and other supporters pushed for the conference committee to meet as soon as the Legislature reconvened. Joining Bennett on the committee on June 13 were Sen. J.D. Mesnard (R) and Sen. Juan Mendez (D), along with Rep. Leo Biasiucci (R), Rep. Oscar De Los Santos (D), and House Speaker Ben Toma (R).
The same day, the committee put forth its version of SB1518. It cleared the Senate on a 17-11-2 vote, with three Republicans voting no and a handful of Democrats voting yes.
But when the bill hit the House, it was shot down on a 24-32-4 vote that reflected the loss of support from several Republicans, including Rep. Justin Heap (R) and Rep. Rachel Jones, when they realized Kolodin’s guardrails had been removed by the conference committee.
Our amendment was removed in the 11th hour and replaced with language, that Bennett wanted, for the third time. I will happily vote down fake election integrity bills when they open a loophole to get rid of sig verification EVERY SINGLE TIME. Beware uniparty poison pills.
— AZ Representative Rachel Jones (@RJ4arizona) June 14, 2023
In an attempt to give SB1518 one more chance, Kolodin invoked a legislative rule which allows anyone who voted against a bill to motion to allow a reconsideration of the matter at a later date. His motion passed on a voice vote, giving supporters up to 90 days to see if a compromise can be worked out.
But voters will have to wait several weeks, as the Legislature started an extended summer break the day after the SB1518. Lawmakers are not expected back until Aug. 1.
“The sad part is there were some good parts to the bill,” Kolodin said after the vote. “Then a poison pill, which we had already rejected in that form, was snuck in at the 11th hour.”