When Arizona’s Legislative District 5 Republican Committee posted an announcement of an upcoming seminar on the controversial Ranked Choice Voting, it was instantly removed by the censors at Instagram. Eventually the company apologized for the error.
The Arizona Republican Party shared the announcement and tweeted:
@AZLD5GOP’s account was shut down for much of the day today by Instagram for the following post. Join us this Friday to uncover what they fear you might see!
Thankfully @elonmusk believes in free speech and they were still able to post on X the whole time that Instagram had them silenced.
.@AZLD5GOP's account was shut down for much of the day today by Instagram for the following post.
Join us this Friday to uncover what they fear you might see!
Thankfully @elonmusk believes in free speech and they were still able to post on X the whole time that Instagram had… pic.twitter.com/WcpmLcGMIL
— Arizona Republican Party (@AZGOP) August 2, 2023
“Hi azgopld5,” wrote the company. “Thanks for taking the time to request a review. We reviewed your account and found that the activity on it does follow our Community Guidelines, so you can use Instagram again. We’re sorry we got this wrong and that you weren’t able to use Instagram for a while. Sometimes we need to take action to keep our community safe.”
“Safe from what?” asked one member of the GOP. “Members of the public from learning about our voting system, and why Ranked Choice Voting is dangerous?”
The event advertised in the temporarily banned announcement is being hosted by the American First Policy Institute (AFPI). Mike Vallente with the Institute argues that “instead of making it easier to vote and harder to cheat, Ranked Choice Voting will confuse voters and discourage more citizens from voting.”
Democrats and other progressive organizations are pushing alternative voting schemes similar to Ranked Choice in Arizona.
Currently a group, Save Democracy Arizona, is trying to place a measure on an upcoming ballot to create “open primaries.” According to Axios, the group had previously considered including RCV as part of its citizen initiative.”
“But Save Democracy Arizona decided against mandating RCV in its pending ballot proposition,” reported Axios.
However, the group’s consultant told Axios that because the voting scheme lacks support in Arizona, it did not justify an investment in it.
This week, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, stunned Arizonans when she joined a coalition of progressive attorneys general who support government censorship on social media platforms. The coalition is opposing a decision by a federal court judge prohibiting dozens of federal officials and agencies from working with and through social media companies to censor what the government claims is “harmful online content.”
Official government interference in an individual’s right to speak is a violation of the First Amendment, however private companies can set up guidelines for users. Other than Twitter, nearly all other popular social media platforms support progressive politicians and policies so rarely are their messages censored. On the other hand, conservative groups and politicians appear to frequently be victims of the platforms “getting it wrong.”
In fact, the social media platforms have been so active on the subject of elections that in November 2020, Pima County Supervisors Ally Miller and Steve Christy voted against a canvass of the 2020 General Election results citing concerns that the their certification of results would be part of a larger pool of certifications coming out of the state of Arizona and across the country of an election in which “Big Tech money old time ballot box stuffing allegedly occurred at historic levels.”
IRS filings show a top player in Big Tech, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, spent at least $5.1 million in Arizona alone to influence 2020 general election races.
Anyone wishing to learn more about the alternative voting schemes, according to AFPI, is invited to register for the free seminar scheduled for Friday, August 4, 2023, in Scottsdale, Arizona. Questions and online RSVP’s can be addressed to JKittleson@americafirstpolicy.com.
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