Rising Arizona Democratic Star LD 18 State Senator Priya Sundareshan has distinguished herself in this legislative session (her first) by becoming a leading champion and voice promoting reproductive freedom, women’s health care, a guaranteed income for all Arizonans, and the protection of Democracy in the Grand Canyon State.
Over the last two days, she, as the Ranking Member of the Arizona Senate Elections Committee, has called out Republican attempts to bypass Governor Katie Hobbs’s veto pen by working to pass two measures, designed to go directly to the 2024 ballot for voter consideration, that would potentially harass Arizona residents in a statewide local census and to suppress their ability to vote by mail.
Currently, both measures have passed the Arizona State House. They are awaiting votes in the Senate.
Speaking yesterday (March 27, 2024) on social media regarding HCR2058, the measure calling for voters to approve an Arizona citizen-only census in addition to the federal one conducted every ten years, Senator Sundareshan said the MAGA-Republican idea was:
“Designed to confuse the public and strip away the power of your vote.”
The Senator pointed out that the authors of this legislation could not or would not put forth costs or staffing projections that “would be needed” to carry out this census.
After pointing out that the federal census already asks the citizenship question, Ms. Sundareshan conveyed that her Republican colleagues “seemed more interested in their messaging campaign instead of good policy.”
She then accused the MAGA-Republicans of “redrawing Arizona’s legislative maps, under false pretenses, in a way that favors them.”
Calling the bill “cynical and dangerous” and based on “racist, backward ideology,” Sundareshan called HCR2058, “the Republican attempt to have their extremist political allies conduct a door to door ‘Show me your papers campaign.'”
Foreseeing hundreds of millions of dollars in court battles because of this measure, the Senator closed her presentation by offering:
“HCR2058 is wrong for Arizona and I urge you to contact your senator and tell them to vote no.”
Senator Sundareshan also called attention to Legislative Republican attempts to steer voting to what it was like in the 1990s before early mail-in ballots were universally accessible.
Today (March 28, 2024,) she issued a press release through the Arizona State Senate Democratic Caucus, contending:
“HCR2032 is a slap in the face to Arizona voters. This ballot referral is a brazen attempt to overhaul
the way our elections are run, and to limit the early voting options that over 90% of Arizonans use. Republicans know that this conspiracy-filled piece of legislation would never make it past the Governor’s desk, so they have decided to continue weaponizing the ballot. The most egregious policy changes included in HCR2032 are as follows:
It would prohibit an elections precinct from including more than 1,000 registered voters.
It would restrict the use of vote centers in Maricopa and Pima County to only in addition to precinct polling
places. In turn, this provision would erase easily accessible vote centers due to a shortage of staff.
No-excuse early voting has existed in Arizona for over 30 years and AEVL/PEVL has existed for 15 years
and has been widely popular and considered a safe and secure method of voting until former President Donald Trump began spreading lies about it in the leadup to 2020, which he lost. This measure would restrict mail voting to only persons who: 1) are 65 or older; 2) are college students residing out of state; 3) are UOCAVA, active-duty military or their family; and 4) have a disability. 80% of all Arizonans, across the political spectrum, use mail-in voting as their preferred way of casting their ballot.
This measure would also limit in-person early voting to one week, instead of allowing voters the flexibility
they currently enjoy when voting in person.
This is simply the newest attack Republicans have waged against Arizonan voters. This is a transparent
attempt to restrict access to the ballot because extremist Republicans have been unable to accept the will of the voters time and time again.”
Voters need to be educated and told to vote no on these two election-suppressing ballot measures this November if they pass the Arizona Senate.
The voting change is exactly what Texas has in order to keep down voters who can’t make it to the polls on Election Day. I doubt it would pass statewide. Too many people use it now that won’t want it to happen.
Not sure what the census measure is about but if the state wants an updated count mid-decade the U.S. Census Bureau will provide one if Arizona wants to pay for it. If it’s for purposes of conducting a separate census in order to ask questions the U.S. Census doesn’t ask (such as if you are in the country Illegally or a U.S. citizen) then it’s a way to make a political point, not get an accurate count. The original census never asked if you were born in this country because many were not. It was about getting an accurate count.