The Arizona Senate Judiciary Committee will be hearing four bills that will have an adverse impact on voters if they become law. The committee meets Thursday at
SB 1032 would require photo identification for early voting in person. There are other forms of identification that ought to be accepted, such as a birth certificate or social security card – neither of which has a photo on it. It is true that a person can get a government-issued photo ID with a birth certificate or social security card, but not everyone does that. This bill is just one more attempt to suppress voting.
SB 1046 This is another bad bill, as it would severely restrict Arizona voters from returning their early ballots to a polling place or other official location on Election Day. “An elector who is on the permanent early voting list and who has received an early ballot may return the elector’s voted early ballot only by mail and may not deliver the voted early ballot to an on-site or other early voting location or to a polling place on election day.”
SB 1054 requires “curing” for up to only 5 days after an election. “Curing” a ballot means that if a person mailed in their ballot and there was a problem of some kind, the county recorders are expected to contact the voter and give them time to “fix” (or “cure”) the problem – such as a signature that does not quite match. This is a good bill in that it requires all counties to try to contact voters and “cure” their ballots—however, is five days enough? It would not have been enough in Coconino or Maricopa counties in the 2018 election.
SB 1072 seems designed to discourage counties from creating Voting Centers as we used them in Coconino County in 2018 because precinct-based polling stations would also be required so the savings incurred by combining precincts into a Vote Center would be lost. The bill also incorporates photo id requirements.
All of these voter suppression bills are sponsored, not surprisingly, by a Republican, Sen. Ugenti-Rita (LD23). Judiciary Committee Members to contact:
| Sonny Borrelli — Majority Whip | LD5 | R | Email: SBORRELLI | (602) 926-5051 |
| Lupe Contreras — Assistant Minority Leader | 19 | D | Email: LCONTRERAS | (602) 926-5284 |
| Andrea Dalessandro | 2 | D | Email: ADALESSANDRO | (602) 926-5342 |
| Eddie Farnsworth — President Pro Tempore | 12 | R | Email: EFARNSWORTH | (602) 926-5735 |
| Rick Gray — Majority Leader | 21 | R | Email: RGRAY | (602) 926-5413 |
| Vince Leach | 11 | R | Email: VLEACH | (602) 926-3106 |
| Martin Quezada | 29 | D | Email: MQUEZADA | (602) 926-5911 |
Thanks to Anne Schneider, for alerting us.
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