AZ State Representative Laura Terech Discusses the Election Fix for 2024

Tense Moments. Tireless efforts. Hardworking legislators and staffs. Marathon negotiations.

Those are some of the descriptions given by State Representative Laura Terech, the Arizona House Democrat charged with negotiating and compromising on HB2785, a fix to the 2024 election cycle with her Republican legislator colleague Alex Kolodin.

A fix was necessary to the 2024 election cycle was necessary after new federal guidelines and a 2022 Republican passed revision to the ballot recount rules caused a calendar crunch with the primary and general election dates that could have caused an Electoral College reporting nightmare following the Presidential elections this year.

While both sides were very far apart as late as Monday, February 5, Representative Terech credited Kolodin, the House Counsel, and legislators on both sides for coming together to bridge the gap and send a bipartisan fix for Governor Hobb’s signature last week.

Representative Terech graciously interviewed with Blog for Arizona to discuss the negotiations and compromises involved to achieve the election fix and how this was a win for Arizonans.

The questions and her responses are below.

1) Please describe the tenor of the bipartisan negotiations after Monday, February 5 and how it progressed to the February 8 vote on HB2785?

“I would call the tenor of the negotiations tense. We introduced two competing versions of this bill. One from Representative Kolodin and one from myself and they started pretty far apart. I always knew that we were going to try to bring those together. Any kind of bipartisan negotiation is tough in this political environment, especially around elections and especially around under the timeline crunch we were under. February 9th was the last day, but we knew the legislature wouldn’t be in on Friday, so we had to vote this through on the 8th. The negotiations were hard fought, and both sides gave. Nobody walked away completely happy but for me the sign of a good negotiation is that it is something everybody could live with. But at times they were very, very, very tense and fraught and they went on day after day late into the night, early in the morning. I did not eat or sleep for 72 hours. This was a marathon to get this done.”

2) What were at least three provisions in the bill that Democrats were pleased with securing in this bipartisan legislation? There may be a follow-up or two based on the initial response.

“I want to highlight actually two things that are out of the bill and then something that is in the bill that I am very pleased with.”

“Two of the provisions that I was able to negotiate out along with our whole team who was working on this. Originally, the Republicans had set the 2026 primary date for May. Now what is really interesting about this is I do really think there is an appetite for moving up Arizona’s primary. It’s really late. It’s one of the latest that we have in the country and the time to pivot between the primary and the general does not provide a lot of runway for these really competitive elections. The other thing is this is happening in the heat of the summer and as someone who knocked doors in 115-degree heat, it’s not pleasant. I do think there’s a real appetite for that on both sides, but the date becomes a little tricky. I don’t feel that comfortable having a primary date in the middle of the legislative session because typically we’re there until June 30 although it’s supposed to be a hundred-day session and it never is. For me, I’m in a purple district. I’m a single shot candidate. The primary date is not as relevant to me as it is to other folks but in our red and blue districts, they’re doing their heavy lift (GOTV, get out the vote, voter contact, chasing ballots) in that month before so they would be doing all of that in April while we are supposed to be focused on the work at hand. I have real concerns about that. That being said, I do hope those conversations continue in that we would be able to find an earlier date that wouldn’t be too hot that would allow folks to be in from vacation and cast their ballot. That was one thing that came out. One of the reasons it came out was because it was not related to what we had to fix. It’s a bigger conversation. Let’s have it at a later date. Let’s simplify our lives for what we’re working on.”

“I was also very pleased to see that mandating high schools to serve as polling locations was pulled out. The part that was really troubling for me was the kids wouldn’t be there and parents would have to find childcare that day but then the teachers would be required to have an inservice day. We are short poll workers and it is a constant struggle to find staff for our polling locations and many teachers like to serve as poll workers. They should have the flexibility to do that and engage in the civic process in that way. The idea that the Legislature would

micromanage when a teacher can and cannot take professional development training and when they’re allowed to use a black out date; that is not the job of the State Legislature. I was very pleased that that came out.”

“A provision in here that I am very pleased with and is going to be a good thing although we’ll see how it shakes out for voters (I know there was concern) is the cure period. We’ve changed it from five business days to five calendar days including weekends. We know there’s been a number of concerns expressed that this will impact rural voters and working families with regards to transportation or wi-fi issues at public libraries and things like that. But a couple of things. This is temporary. This is not a permanent fix. This was written into session law as opposed to statutory law so if we’re finding that this is not in the best interest of the voters, we have flexibility to change it. I also think that for Arizona voters, it will be more convenient to cure their ballot on the weekend. I’m very anxious to see how that shapes up.”

“The other part of that provision that I think is really good for voters is political parties are going to able to get their CHASE lists sooner so the daily kind of count of who’s voted, what’s missing, who do you need to talk to, and who do you need to get going on their cure if there is, for example, an invalid signature; we’ll get that sooner. There will be more opportunities, even on those business days for voters to get that cure in. I think that’s a good provision. I’m very pleased. It’s a truly bipartisan bill.”

“The signature verification was codified into law and I know that caused some heartburn. What I will say about that is we also codified a legislative intent so it is very clear this is what the legislature intends from these guidelines. These are the guidelines we’re already using and that gives me comfort. This is from the 2020 version of the Secretary of State’s signature guidelines from then Secretary Katie Hobbs.”

Please advise on the fate of voting centers, especially the early ballot ones.

“That I believe was more so on the periphery of the dialog. I don’t know that I ever personally saw a draft of the bill that included anything to do with vote centers. We’ve certainly seen that bill come up the last two years and I know that is a big push from the Republicans. That proposal is simply unworkable and something I shared on the floor when that bill came up for a vote specifically just

on voting centers. They wanted to go back to precinct-based voting capped at 1,000 voters per precinct. In Maricopa County alone, we’re talking about going from roughly 220 vote centers, that we have trouble staffing now, up to 2700 individual voting locations. So, we would have to purchase equipment for that. We would have to pay roughly 16,000 people to staff those polling locations. And not every precinct has a suitable location for a polling place. One thing that was proposed in committee that I find just horrifying, to be frank, is it was floated that we could vote out of someone’s house. I don’t think that’s a good idea for so many reasons. Not only security but also very likely, that would violate Federal ADA compliance laws for our voters with disabilities. There would be questions of power and just getting there. I would also ask one of the things we kept hearing was ‘Oh I would feel more comfortable voting in my neighborhood with my neighbors.’ Well, if you’re at someone’s house and you know they’re a big Trump supporter or a big Biden supporter and you’re the opposite party, are you totally going to feel comfortable voting? A location should be neutral. This bill, from a cost standpoint, an accessibility standpoint–this bill was completely unworkable. So, the idea that would ever be on the table in any kind of negotiations was a nonstarter.”

3) Please tell the readers at least two ways this legislation is a win for the Arizona voters.

“The two biggest ways we were working to avoid the nightmare scenarios here which is that one, our military and overseas voters would not get their ballots in enough time, and two, the truly doomsday nightmare which is Arizona would not have enough time to certify our electoral votes and submit them to the Electoral College to cast our votes for President. That would be the first time in history something like that has happened and that is just unthinkable that we would disenfranchise an entire state simply because 90 of us couldn’t come to an agreement on a fix on a problem that we created. I mean this was a recount law that was put into place in 2022. That, coupled with the new federal guideline, put us on this collision course.”

“So, the big win for Arizona voters is that we averted a crisis and one of the reasons that I got into politics is because it is such a politicized divisive environment. I taught kindergarten before this, and I’m known at the Capitol to bring a very kindergarten teacher energy to everything I do. I try to be very calm and have patience for days. I’m really proud of the bipartisan work that went into this, and these were tough, tough negotiations and it got done on the strength of

relationships and trust and give and take. That’s a win for this political climate. That’s a win for Arizonans, so many of them who I talk to, who want to see a return to normalcy and governance. That’s what happened here and that is such a victory.”

Do you think this spirit of bipartisanship will carry over to the renewal of Proposition 123 (education funding from proceeds of the State Land Trust?)

“That’s going to be another fight on our hands. I hope so. That will surely be another fight. I hope so. We’ll see.”

4) Is there anything not covered in the first three questions that you would like the readers to know about the passage of HB 2785? Please explain.

“Well, to go back to your last question on Prop 123, I think that will depend on who is at the negotiating table there. Like I said, there are 90 of us with lots of different personalities. I think it will just depend on who we have in those rooms and what will happen from there, but I am very hopeful that we’ll be able to arrive on something there.”

“With regards to HB2785, I’m just really, really proud. A lot of people worked tirelessly to make this happen. I want to give a huge shout out to the counties. They have been sounding this alarm for quite some time and they presented the legislature with a variety of options. They have been very communicative with us. They’ve been very active in this process. These are hardworking election officials. They’re the experts and they told us they needed the days, and we got them the days. Those kind of partnerships between different levels of government and different entities; that’s the way it should work. I am just thrilled that it was a win. It was a bipartisan win, and we can move forward from here to the next battle.”

On HB2785, would you like to give any shout outs to any of your Democratic or Republican colleagues in the Legislature for their hard work on this issue?

“Our House General Counsel was instrumental in this process. She was there every step of the way. I had an incredible amount of support from my Democratic colleagues. And I do think this can sometimes be rare in politics to but I do want to give a shout out to Representative Kolodin. He and I have worked together on a number of issues. We don’t agree on much. We don’t see eye to eye on many things but he worked tirelessly on this bill because he understood the importance of this for our state as a whole. I really admire that level of dedication. Again, we don’t agree on much but it’s a testament to all of us here.”