GOP lawmakers skeptical as Arizona election changes win support from Gov. Hobbs panel

A bipartisan task force convened by Gov. Katie Hobbs wants to prevent the possibility of Arizona’s automatic recount law clashing with the timetable for presidential electors to cast their ballots in the Electoral College – potentially causing a delay in presidential results next year.

But a GOP lawmaker who backed the proposal, as well as several other key ideas crafted by the panel, believes it faces dim prospects of winning approval from his fellow Republicans who control the Legislature.

Other key ideas include restoring felons’ voting rights as soon as they have completed their sentences and providing a measure of legal protection for voters who use ballot drop boxes to cast their votes.

The Governor’s Bipartisan Election Task Force approved all but one of the 16 recommendations on a unanimous vote. Sen. Ken Bennett, R-Prescott, objected to the automatic restoration of felons’ voting rights upon release from prison.

Bennett is a former Arizona secretary of state. He said other aspects of a felon’s case that follow release from prison, such as probation or restitution to victims, need to be taken into account before restoring voting rights.

Alex Gulotta, a member of the voter advocacy group All Voting is Local, called the proposal “bold” and “pretty decent,” citing its near-unanimous support.

Headwinds in the Legislature?

The panel's strong support for the proposals doesn’t necessarily mean the measures that need legislative approval will fare well. Many of the proposals seek to expand voting access at a time when the legislative majority has backed laws that seek to tighten ballot access.

Bennett predicted the proposal to revert to the previous standard for automatic recounts would fail in the Legislature, even though he supported the recommendation.

“I think there’s a significant number of voters in Arizona who are still skeptical about our elections and their results,” he said.

Lawmakers last year expanded the margin that would trigger an automatic recount to half of a percentage point from the previous one-tenth of a point. It was a reaction to Joe Biden’s narrow win in Arizona, which would have been recounted if the more expansive margin were in place.

In the 2022 general election, three races went to an automatic recount that took weeks to complete – long past the state’s deadline for certifying the presidential electors.

The task force recommended returning to the previous standard. But it also suggested other measures that could ease the pressure to get results tallied on time.

Those include allowing county recorders to send their election canvasses electronically, saving several days that are now eaten up by a requirement to mail the documents to the Arizona secretary of state.

There’s also a suggestion to move back the date of the primary election by one or two weeks. That would give time for recounts to happen and still allow election officials to meet the requirement to mail out ballots to overseas and military voters.

“The election officials are looking for as much time as they can get,” said task force co-chair Helen Purcell, who served as Maricopa County recorder from 1989 until losing her 2016 re-election bid.

Where’s the governor?

Hobbs made introductory remarks praising the group’s work, which she said would ensure Arizonans have “an excellent voting experience.” She then excused herself, leaving Purcell to run the meeting slated to go on for an hour.

Hobbs’ absence drew a rebuke from Bennett, who said he was disappointed the governor did not stay for what turned out to be a 45-minute presentation and vote.

“I can think of few things less important than election integrity,” Bennett said. If the governor didn’t have the time for Tuesday’s session, it should have been rescheduled for a time that suited her, he said.

Christian Slater, Hobbs’ spokesman, said the governor had other obligations, but would not detail them.

Drop boxes, easier registration

Other proposals, which will be formalized in a final report Nov. 1, include:

• Amend the law to ensure protections against voter intimidation and interference apply to any method voters use to return their ballot. Those protections would be enforced inside the 75-foot limit from the polls that current law provides as a buffer against any kind of interference. Rep. Laura Terech, D-Phoenix, called it a first step in dealing with drop boxes, which became a topic of intense local and national attention in the wake of the 2020 election. But Bennett said the state needs to do more to protect against intimidation, noting protection shouldn’t end at 76 feet from the polls.

• The task force stayed away from anything that would “codify” the use of drop boxes. That’s a nod to litigation that has challenged the practice, including a lawsuit filed this week by the Free Enterprise Club. The suit argues there is no basis in law for drop boxes that are not monitored round the clock.

• Allow cross-county voter registration. This would allow a voter who moves from one county to another in the month before an election to cast a provisional ballot in their new county of residence rather than having to re-register.

• Allow the provisional ballot form to be treated as a voter registration form since the forms contain the same information.

• Provide $1.3 million a year in state funding to pay for the operation of the state's voter registration database. Currently, the system does not have a sustainable source of funding. This request could be complicated by the state's declining financial situation, with a $400 million deficit forecast for the next budget year.

Reach the reporter at maryjo.pitzl@arizonarepublic.com or at 602-228-7566 and follow her on Threads as well as on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @maryjpitzl. Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona elections could look different if these ideas are adopted