Arizona Senate Sends Conspiracy Theory-Laden Jim Crow 2.0 Bill To The Governor – Veto This Bill

Republicans in the Arizona Senate voted Wednesday to block counties from applying for private grants to make up for state funding shortfalls that the counties say they need to properly run elections. So much for their feigned concern about election integrity and security.

Howard Fischer reports, Arizona Senate OKs prohibiting counties from applying for private election grants:

The 16-14 party-line vote by the Senate for HB 2569 came as GOP lawmakers said the more than $6 million in grants that nine counties got from Center for Tech and Civic Life in 2020 was really just a thinly disguised effort by billionaire Mark Zuckerberg to turn out more Democrats. The group gave out about $400 million nationally to about 2,500 jurisdictions nationally, with reports by the organization showing the lion’s share came from Facebook founder Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan.

This “genius,” Sen. Sonny Borrelli, R-Lake Havasu City, complained the money that ended up in Arizona went to “key swing” counties, notably the Phoenix and Tucson areas.

Hey “genius,” 62% of Arizona’s population lives in Maricopa County, and another 14.2% lives in Pima County, the second most populous county. That is 76% of the state population combined. If you were investing $6 million, where would you most likely invest your money? Certainly not in Mohave County with only 2.9% of the state population.

“This was targeted in a way to really undermine the integrity of the system under the guise of trying to promote and get out the vote logistics,” he said.

Do paranoid much?

But the record shows otherwise. While the two largest counties got the largest allocations, seven others also got financial help, including Graham, La Paz, Yavapai and Pinal counties where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats.

So this “genius” is a liar who is just upset that the money didn’t go to Mohave County, where he lives.

And Sen. Christine Marsh, D-Phoenix, pointed out that this wasn’t unrestricted funds dropped on county election officials but that, in each case, they had to apply and spell out how they would use the money.

That money, said Sen. Martin Quezada, D-Glendale, went for particular needs this year due to the COVID pandemic, like additional drop boxes, cleaning supplies, rent for polling places, temporary staff and personal protective equipment.

“Those are basic necessities when you are administering elections,” he said.

And Republicans have a problem with this aid? There was no electioneering activities involved with this aid.

“There is zero evidence whatsoever that this money was used in any partisan manner,” Quezada continued. “It wasn’t just helping Democrat voters, it was helping Republican voters, it was helping independent voters.”

But QAnon Queen Sen. Kelly Townsend, R-Mesa, said the money received was above the adopted budgets for county recorders and was not needed to fill in gaps.

Says you, the counties say otherwise.

“But beyond that, if this grant was coming from China or if this grant was coming from Russia, we might be calling it Russian interference with our elections,” she said.

But it wasn’t, you batshit “Q”razy freak.

“So what is the difference between international money coming from a state overseas to an individual interested party, regardless of how it was spent and how desperately it was needed?” Townsend said. “It’s inappropriate.”

An American nonprofit organization, Center for Tech and Civic Life, supporting democracy by providing election officials with additional funds that the state of Arizona shorted them for running the election is your “Q” conspiracy theory?

Foreign money in our elections is against federal law, that is the difference, you ignoramus. Not that Donald Trump and the RNC did not accept in-kind contributions from his pal Putin. All that social media trolling from the Internet Research Agency in Moscow has a value, you know. You don’t seem to be at all concerned about that.

That, however, still leaves the question of whether the counties had the money they needed.

Sen. Jamescita Peshlakai, D-Cameron, said she has worked in a county elections office.

“There are struggles of logistics and so many unknowns,” she said, even in the best of circumstances.

In the 2020 election, Peshlakai said, the extra grant dollars went into brochures and public announcements in rural Arizona.

More to the point, she said there were measures to keep people from getting ill from COVID-19 during the election.

“They put out tents, they put out water, hand-washing stations, sanitizer,” Peshlakai said. “And in many places they even put up porta-potties because the remote locations they vote in places are where people don’t have facilities, running water.”

You know, the very things that the state of Georgia just tried to forbid. Because Georgia Republicans want to make voting as difficult and as uncomfortable as possible to discourage voting.

This asshole again: Sen. J.D. Mesnard, R-Chandler, said it is “irrelevant” whether counties had enough money to run the 2020 election. He said the issue is the precedent being set.

“This is about the future and whether or not in the future we’re going to allow big businesses to have a new tool in their arsenal for how they influence our elections,” Mesnard said. And he called it “alarming” that those who want more money for elections to say that it doesn’t matter what is the source.

“If we don’t put a stop to this, if this becomes a trend, you’re going to see all kinds of very wealthy people engaging in this covert, behind-the-scenes” activity.

Maybe the Arizona legislature should adequately fund the county election departments.

And “all kinds of very wealthy people engaging in this covert, behind-the-scenes” activity to “influence our elections”? Are you effin’ kidding me? This guy is lacking any self-awareness. Arizona has become the “dark money” capitol of American politics because of dilholes like him.

Peshlakai, however, said if lawmakers are concerned about the influence of money they should do more to curb the influence of cash to sway election results. Some of that, she said, is the result of the 2010 Citizens United case when the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that corporations had the same rights as individuals to donate to affect the outcome of elections.

Mesnard had a different take on it.

“This makes ‘dark money’ look like a bright day,” he said, referring to Arizona laws that allow special interest groups to try to elect candidates of their choice without having to disclose their donors.

Yeah, no it doesn’t, dummy. These grants had applications for particular needs, and were fully transparent (see above). No comparison. There is no transparency in the “dark money” Republicans get from the Chamber of Commerce and a myriad of corporate PACs.

And he said the public is on his side.

“When I talk to folks [the MAGA/QAnon cult members] about, ‘Should we let Mark Zuckerberg start funding our elections,’ I have yet to find a single one who thinks that’s a good idea,” Mesnard said.

News Flash: Donald Trump could not have won in 2016 without Facebook allowing him to spread his lies and disinformation unchecked on its platform. Donald Trump owes that punk Mark Zuckerberg, big time. Maybe his MAGA/QAnon cult members should show the Zuck some love.

The party-line vote sends the measure, which already has been approved by the House, to the governor.

Contact the governor’s office to veto this wholly unnecessary, conspiracy theory-laden bill.