On November 24. 2020, I wrote an article titled “Do the People of Arizona Really Want Jake Hoffman Writing Arizona Election Law?”
Today (February 23, 2021,) the people of Arizona have their answer.
NO!
The Legislative 12 State Representative, a person who has been accused of spreading disinformation to voters, creating fictitious political candidates, and soliciting/underpaying underage workers to run his many bogus political internet accounts, crafted and guided, with the approval of all the Republicans (including Chairperson John Kavanagh) on the Arizona State House Government and Elections Committee, several voter suppression legislative measures designed to:
- Stop same-day voter registration (HB2811.)
- Puts roadblocks to efforts to register voters (HB2793.)
- Make people on the Permanent Early Voting List (PEVL) request early ballots for primary and general elections instead of receiving them automatically (HB2792.)
- Prohibits the state, cities, towns, counties, school districts, and any public body that conducts elections from receiving private funds/grants to “administering, preparing for or conducting an election, including registering voters” (HB2569.)
What do Vice Chairperson Jake Hoffman and most members of the former Party of Lincoln have against making it easier for people to :
- register to vote.
- make informed choices when voting.
- vote.
HB2569, the proposal to cut government and public entities off from private grants so they can better conduct elections has earned increased scrutiny because it promotes Mr. Hoffman’s talent: spreading disinformation.
AZ Central columnist EJ Montini, writing about the passage of this proposal on a strict party-line vote, chastised Government and Elections Chair John Kavanagh (up until recently, a frequent commenter on this blog although he has repeatedly refused to comment on the November 24, 2020, article on Hoffman as Vice-Chair. Readers now know why) for his cavalier attitude that the measure invites the spread of disinformation to the voters when he said during the committee meeting before the vote:
“One person’s disinformation is another person’s truth.”
Is he kidding?
As Mr. Montini wrote:
“Disinformation is the opposite of truth.
Supporting disinformation is supporting lies. Worse than that, however, is a group of lawmakers not just supporting the spread of lies, but trying to protect those lies with a law.”
Athena Salman, the Legislative District 26 Democratic State Representative and Ranking Member on the Government and Election’s Committee issued a statement on Kavanagh and Hoffman, writing:
“Chairman Kavanagh’s words are alarming as they were in defense of his vote to support a bill that would block future grant funding for election officials seeking to combat the rampant disinformation that threatens the integrity of our elections. Even more concerning is the role of the Vice-Chair and bill sponsor of HB2569. It is a well-known fact that Rep. Jake Hoffman was banned last fall from Facebook and Twitter for his role as CEO of Rally Forge, a company based in Arizona that created hundreds of fake accounts to push out falsehoods about our election.
As a reprisal, the Vice-Chair is now barring future grant opportunities for our election officials to pay for poll workers, drop boxes, early in-person vote facilities, and of course, combatting the misinformation permeating our elections, a grant in large part funded by Mark Zuckerberg. The clear conflict of interest is two-fold. Number one, the Vice-Chair has a financial incentive for election officials and private social media platforms to continue to allow disinformation that compromises the integrity of our elections.
Secondly, as Aimee Yentes from the Free Enterprise Club pointed out in committee, these companies can ban accounts that violate the terms of service on spreading disinformation pertaining to elections. As such, this creates the second perception that the Vice-Chair is barring future private grants because he was personally banned from Facebook.”
Representative Salman is right.
Elections are the mechanism that provides accountability to our elected officials and preserves Democracy and the power of the people.
Beware the people that are out to distort reality and stifle Democracy. They are self-serving Anti-Americans masquerading as patriotic public servants advancing an autocratic reactionary oligarchic agenda instead of the people’s.
Voting is a human right.
Do not let people like Jake Hoffman and his Fox Island-Disnfowar colleagues get away with behaving like political foxes that are about to eat away the voter rights hen house.
Make your voices heard. Call the legislature and try to put a stop to this.
Petition to advance and expand voting rights and access.
Hold the individuals at the Arizona State Legislature that are attempting to make it harder to vote and spread political/campaign lies to everyone accountable by voting them out in 2022.