Authoritarian Rethuglicans Propose The Most Blatant Voter Disenfranchisement Bill Ever (Updated)

In Arizona, like in every other state, state legislatures have by statute delegated the election of presidential electors to the popular vote of the citizenry. The will of the voters decides.

A.R.S. §16-650 provides “The secretary of state shall declare elected the person receiving the highest number of votes cast for each office for which the nominees filed nominating petitions and papers with the secretary of state pursuant to section 16-311, subsection B and shall, unless enjoined from so doing by an order of court, deliver to each such person, upon compliance with the provisions imposed by law upon candidates for office as conditions precedent to the issuance of the certificates, a certificate of election, signed by the secretary of state and authenticated with the great seal of the state.”

In addition, A.R.S. §16-212(B) provides “After the secretary of state issues the statewide canvass containing the results of a presidential election, the presidential electors of this state shall cast their electoral college votes for the candidate for president and the candidate for vice president who jointly received the highest number of votes in this state as prescribed in the canvass.”

Just a few years ago, the GOP-controlled Arizona legislature even added a “faithless elector” clause: A.R.S. §16-212(C) “A presidential elector who knowingly refuses to cast that elector’s electoral college vote as prescribed in subsection B of this section is no longer eligible to hold the office of presidential elector and that office is deemed and declared vacant by operation of law.  The chairperson of the state committee of the political party represented by that elector shall appoint a person who is otherwise qualified to be a presidential elector. The replacement presidential elector shall cast the elector’s electoral college vote as prescribed by this section.  Notwithstanding section 16-344 and any other statute, the nomination paper and affidavit of qualification of the replacement presidential elector may be completed and filed with the secretary of state as soon as is practicable after the presidential elector’s appointment.”

Now comes along the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick, former litigation chief for the “Kochtupus” Death Star the Goldwater Institute, Rep. Shawnna Bolick (R-Phoenix), who wants to reclaim the power of the state legislature, which she apparently assumes will always be GOP-controlled, to elect presidential electors regardless of the popular vote of the citizens of the state. The will of the voters be damned.

Bolick’ s bill seeks to amend A.R.S. §16-650, among other provisions of law, but somehow overlooked A.R.S. §16-212.

Had this bill been in effect in 2020, it would have facilitated Donald Trump’s theft of Arizona’s electoral votes because you can rest assured that Trump’s sycophant supporters in the Arizona legislature would have voted to award him the state’s presidential electors regardless of the outcome of the popular vote of the citizens. The will of the voters be damned.

Why even hold an election then? This is GOP authoritarian fascism writ large.

https://twitter.com/marceelias/status/1354992040359170053

https://twitter.com/marceelias/status/1354982104799580163

The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports, GOP bill would allow lawmakers to override electoral votes:

The chairwoman of the House Ways and Means Committee introduced a bill January 27 that would allow the Legislature to override the secretary of state’s certification of the state’s electoral votes.

HB 2720 (.pdf), sponsored by Rep. Shawnna Bolick, R-Phoenix, says the Legislature “retains its legislative authority regarding the office of presidential elector” and can, by a simple majority vote, at any time before the inauguration of a new president, revoke the certification regardless of whether the Legislature is in regular or special session or has held hearings on the matter.

Bolick’s bill would also make it easier to contest the results of an election by not letting a court dismiss a challenge or enter a summary judgment until after a jury trial, and limiting the circumstances under which laches, a legal doctrine dealing with unreasonable delay in filing a suit, can be used to dismiss election challenges.

It would require at least 10 members of the general public who live in a county be chosen by lot and allowed to observe recounts, and it would require continuous video coverage of recounts, with the live feed clearly displaying the ballots being counted and the electronic screens being used by the Electronic Vote Adjudication Board.

Let's also talk about the provision in the bill that requires ALL of our secret ballots to be considered public records.

Or the one that says if the video of tabulating goes out for any reason, all of that county's supervisors can't seek re-election or hold office for 10 years. https://t.co/q9jGRm49az

— Jim Small (@JimSmall) January 29, 2021

Any duplicated votes would be required to be posted on the county’s website within 24 hours, and the board’s determination as to the voter’s intent. And, the bill would require counties to maintain a count of the number of physical ballots printed and the number of ballots otherwise generated in categories such as regular, provisional, early and federal-only ballots, and to post that information online within a day after Election Day.

HB 2720 is one of numerous measures Republicans lawmakers have introduced this year to make changes to the voting process, many of them designed to put more restrictions on early voting or to allay concerns about voter fraud by making vote count rules more stringent or adding additional verification requirements to voter registration.

Laurie Roberts of the Arizona Republic writes, Rep. Shawnna Bolick says your vote for president shouldn’t count. (Hers, however, should):

Republicans legislators, still steamed about Joe Biden winning Arizona, have been furiously scheming various ways to make it more difficult for people to vote.

There’s a bill that would allow only the most faithful party voters to automatically get early ballots and one that would require early voters to get their signatures notarized. There’s even a bill to all but eliminate early ballots, given the convenience they provide and their role in propelling Biden to victory.

QAnon Queen State Senator Kelly Townsend Wants to Invalidate Mailed-In Ballots:

State Senator Kelly Townsend, who represents Arizona’s 16th Legislative District, has introduced a bill mandating that voters who receive their ballot by mail must return it in person.

The bill, SB 1503, requires that voters who receive an early ballot by mail may only return it by “delivering it by hand to a designated voting location.” It would also mandate that any “early ballots that are received by mail are invalid and may not be processed” by election officials.

[T]he east Valley lawmaker  has routinely given voice to the conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was stolen from former Republican President Donald Trump. In early December, she asked Republican Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich to investigate allegations of voter fraud, but he ultimately declined.

Critics say the legislation is the latest in a string of bills that seek to undermine Arizona’s popular early voting system after Democrats President Joe Biden and Senator Mark Kelly won Arizona in the 2020 election. Democratic voters significantly outperformed Republicans in early voting before the November 3 election.

Townsend’s bill hasn’t been assigned to a committee yet, but some of the other legislation is making progress. HB 2369, the bill requiring that mail-in ballots be notarized, has been assigned. And SB 1069, which would purge the permanent early voting list of voters who don’t vote in two consecutive elections, passed out of committee last week.

It’s all very confusing and time consuming to keep track of the assorted schemes by which our leaders hope to rein in who is voting (and thus who is winning).

Now comes state Rep. Shawnna Bolick, R-Phoenix, who has figured out a way to cut through all the fog — basically by eliminating the need for presidential elections.

House Bill 2720 would allow the Legislature to veto your vote.

I am not kidding.

Bolick is proposing that our leaders be allowed to override the state’s certification of election results and appoint presidential electors of their own choosing.

“The Legislature retains its legislative authority regarding the office of presidential elector and by majority vote at any time before presidential inauguration may revoke the secretary of state’s issuance or certification of a presidential elector’s certificate of election,” the bill says.

Sen. Kelly Townsend, R-Mesa, already proposed overthrowing the 2020 election results and declaring Donald Trump the winner of Arizona with her Senate Concurrent Resolution 2002. But she ran out of time.

Bolick’s bill would ensure that never again would the Legislature be forced to abide by the will of the little people.

Bolick, who is married to state Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick, also proposes a variety of other bad ideas in her bill. Chief among them is a provision that judges no longer be allowed to dismiss frivilous election lawsuits.

Instead, judges would have to hold jury trials despite the lack of any actual evidence.

So if some nut wants to sue, claiming that Hugo Chavez jumped out of his grave to rig Venezuelan voting machines to steal Arizona’s election from Republicans?

Yep, full-blown jury trial.

But Bolick’s biggest insult is her assault on democracy.

Her bill would allow the Legislature to ignore the state’s presidential election results and choose its own winner right up until the moment a president-elect steps up to the podium and puts his hand on the Bible.

Bolick couldn’t be immediately reached for comment. She’s likely relying on the part of the U.S. Constitution that says, “Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct,” its presidential electors.

But the Arizona Legislature long ago directed what that manner would be — that Arizona’s voters would choose Arizona’s electors (and thus its choice for president).

Apparently, that whole democracy thing didn’t work as Bolick would have liked in 2020. So it’s got to go.

But hey, no worries, right? Just leave it to the likes of Bolick, Townsend, Rep. Mark Finchem and Sen. Wendy Rogers to decide for you who should be president.

Oh, you could still vote. It just wouldn’t count.

This may be — make that, is —  the most arrogant power grab I have ever witnessed.

On this we can all agree.

UPDATE:

Hey, a ❄️ is gonna ❄️

— Jim Small (@JimSmall) January 30, 2021

RESOURCE: The Brennan Center For Justice is tracking all of the GOP voter suppression and disenfranchisement bills moving through state legislatures, Voting Laws Roundup 2021 (excerpt):

In a backlash to historic voter turnout in the 2020 general election, and grounded in a rash of baseless and racist allegations of voter fraud and election irregularities, legislators have introduced three times the number of bills to restrict voting access as compared to this time last year. Twenty-eight states have introduced, prefiled, or carried over 106 restrictive bills this year (as compared to 35 such bills in fifteen states on February 3, 2020).

Of course, other state lawmakers are seizing on an energized electorate and persistent interest in democracy reform (which is likewise reflected in Congress). To date, thirty-five states have introduced, prefiled, or carried over 406 bills to expand voting access (dwarfing the 188 expansive bills that were filed in twenty-nine states as of February 3, 2020). Notably 93 such bills were introduced in New York and New Jersey.