GOP Judges Block Citizens Initiative for Voting Rights

After the Secretary of State, County Recorders, and a lower court certified the Arizona Fair Elections Act for the November ballot, the State Supreme Court, at the urging of groups including Karl Rove and Bill Barr, ordered an additional review that excluded just enough signatures to keep the measure off the ballot.

“The high court’s order ended a technical legal battle that raged for most of the past week, capping a stunning reversal by a lower-court judge who ultimately concluded the Arizona Free and Fair Elections Act fell 1,458 short of the needed 237,645 valid voter signatures to qualify for the Nov. 8 ballot,” the Arizona Republic wrote. and a lower court certified the Arizona Fair Elections Act for the November ballot, the state Supreme Court, at the urging of groups including Karl Rove and Bill Barr, ordered an additional review that excluded just enough signatures to keep the measure off the ballot.

“The high court’s order ended a technical legal battle that raged for most of the past week, capping a stunning reversal by a lower-court judge who ultimately concluded the Arizona Free and Fair Elections Act fell 1,458 short of the needed 237,645 valid voter signatures to qualify for the Nov. 8 ballot,” the Arizona Republic wrote.

“The court’s decision to invalidate the Free and Fair Elections Act is unprecedented — even in Arizona,” Stacy Pearson, a spokesperson for the committee, said in a statement.

The Act would have guaranteed voting rights for the state’s Native voters and others while preventing the Legislature from stealing the state’s electoral votes.

What’s Next

Coming just after the initial deadline for ballot printing, the decision further roiled an already boiling Arizona election environment with Trump-backed candidates floundering, and growing anger over the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision against choice.

Supporters of voting rights said they would push against three right-wing voting measures placed on the ballot by the Legislature: Propositions 128, 129, and 132. They would make citizen initiatives — a right in the Arizona Constitution – even more difficult. The Coconino and Arizona Democratic Parties have endorsed “NO” votes on these propositions and also Prop 309, which would impose stricter voter ID requirements on Arizona voters.

New math used by the judges

The Secretary of State’s review lowered the total number of signatures to 399,000 and sent them to the counties for review. Simultaneously, the special master appointed by the court eliminated 96,000 signatures. In this analysis, questioned signatures removed by the county recorders and the special master were deducted from the count twice. Even so, the Initiative still had 2,400 more signatures than needed to get on the ballot. 

On the final day, lawyers for special interests convinced the judge to deduct from the count for a third time signatures struck by the county recorders. It still wasn’t enough to get the Initiative off the ballot so the opposition lawyers and the judge worked on a “formula” that got the count to a level below the threshold that would be accepted by the Supreme Court. 

Another problem on the final day was that the Maricopa County recorder refused to rehabilitate obviously valid signatures. 

Who Are These Guys?

Backers of the Initiative questioned the motives of the state Supreme Court which was expanded by retiring Gov. Doug Ducey to include more Republican members. One judge, whose state legislator wife had proposed allowing the Legislature to overturn elections, did not participate in the decision.

Supporters expressed incredulity that a petition drive that netted more than twice the number of required signatures could fail when the proposal passed muster with county recorders and the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office.

In addition to the Free Enterprise Club, the opposition was supported by the Honest Elections Project and RITE (for Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections), an organization headed by former Trump White House counsel Derek Lyons. It was founded by former Bush adviser Karl Rove, and its board includes former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr.

Adapted from Daily Kos report by Eric Kramer, former Chair of the Navajo County Democrats and a leader among supporters of this initiative.

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