Hobbs, Legislative Democrats respond to wildly irresponsible Republican election proposal

Senate Democratic Leader Priya Sundareshan

Legislative District 18

House Democratic Leader Oscar De Los Santos

Legislative District 11

PHOENIX – Governor Katie Hobbs, Senate Democratic Leader Priya Sundareshan and House Democratic Leader Oscar De Los Santos released the following joint statement regarding the passage earlier today of House Bill 2703 (a mirror of Senate Bill 1011), which would gut the Active Early Voting List, ban dropping-off early ballots after the Friday before Election Day, and restrict voting access for potentially hundreds of thousands of Arizona voters: 

“When given the chance to find common-sense bipartisan solutions to achieve faster election results and expand voter access, Republicans in the state House and Senate rejected every attempt to negotiate in good faith. The bipartisan proposal that we offered, by way of amendment in both chambers and bill (SB1653; sponsored by Senator Brian Fernandez (LD23)), removes the partisan portions of the bill and leaves only those that have been supported by both Republicans and Democrats in the past. Representative Brian Garcia (LD8) twice attempted to amend HB2703 during debate in the House, but Republicans refused to back common-sense efforts to speed up election results while expanding access to the ballot box. 

There is no need to reinvent the wheel here. Last year, when the newly enacted state recount law threatened the ability for Arizona to send their presidential electors to Congress, we found bipartisan compromise and delivered for Arizonans. If the honest goal here is to achieve faster results, the offer to negotiate remains. Adding further restrictions to access the ballot box, gutting mail-in voting, or shifting additional unfunded mandates onto our county election officials are non-starters for Arizonans.”

The Bipartisan Proposal: SB1653  Requires counties to allow for in-person early voting the weekend and Monday before Election Day and requires them to be open until at least 7:00 p.m. so voters can vote after work.  Partially included in the original Petersen SB 1011.  Senator Bennett introduced this bill, and it never got a hearing (SB 1467).  Republican activists in the Senate raised this as needing to be included in the bill in Committee.  Allows ballots to be returned to central count for processing throughout Election Day.  A similar proposal was amended onto a Bennett bill in 2023 and got unanimous support before the House stripped it from the bill (SB 1518).  Expand the ability of a voter to show ID and skip signature verification of their mail ballot to anytime before election day.   Eliminates the requirement that in-person early ballots go through signature verification after the voter provides ID.

The Republican Proposal: SB1011 Requires early ballots that are deposited at a voting location to be received by 7:00 p.m. the Friday before the election, rather than on Election Day.   Allows ballots to be hand delivered or mailed only to the office of the county recorder from 7:00 p.m. on Friday through 7:00 p.m. on Election Day.   Requires voters to confirm their address every election cycle in Maricopa and Pima and every other election cycle in all other counties in order to receive an early ballot by mail, regardless of whether they are on AEVL.   Requires all public schools to be polling places, even if the principal believes the safety or welfare of the children will be jeopardized.   Allows, rather than requires, counties to allow for in-person early voting the weekend and Monday before election day.   Eliminates the requirement that in-person early ballots go through signature verification after the voter provides ID.

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