Gabriella Cázares-Kelly, the first Native American to win an election for Pima County Recorder at age 39, landed her seat at a time when serving as a progressive Recorder is more urgent than ever.
When asked if early voting– which helped Democrats gain votes during the pandemic– might be in danger, Cázares-Kelly breathed a sigh of relief.
“Our office manages early voting sites,” she told the Blog for Arizona in a phone interview.
“We submit the location and hours of each site to the Board of Supervisors for approval. The Recorder’s office oversees voter registration, early voting, and document recording for the county.”
“However, the other policies that I support are included in HR-1, For the People’s Act.”
HR-1 is considered a sacred document among Democrats and a noxious bill among Republicans, intent on kicking non-white Democrats off the voting polls.
(Please see Cázares-Kelly HR-1 highlights at the end of this article.)
Egregious Anti-Voter Laws
There were more than 125 election-related bills introduced in this last legislative session.
“The majority of them were designed to reduce the number of people participating,” Cázares-Kelly says.
One of her priorities is to calm voters’ fears regarding the GOP laws enacted after Joe Biden became the first President to take Arizona since Bill Clinton won the state in 1996.
“The majority of bills did not pass.
“A small handful did make it through, specifically SB 1485 and HB 2569.
SB 1485 renamed Permanent Early Voting List (PEVL) to Active Early Voting List (AEVL), as most Arizonians know.
“If a voter on the AEVL does not return at least one early ballot for four years, the voter receives a postcard asking if they still want to receive an early ballot.
The Country Recorder may reach the voter by telephone, text message, or email, but the voter must respond in writing to stay on the early voting list.
A Gut Punch to Democrats
The second anti-voting rights law that hit Democrats with a gut punch is HB 2569. The law bans private grant money that finances Arizona elections.
The Legislature passed this bill in response to a grant that nine of the 15 Arizona counties received last year, to assist in paying election workers during the pandemic.
The votes fell along party lines, with all Republicans voting “yea” and Democrats voting “nay.”
Republican U.S. Representative Andy Biggs: “The radical left wants to take control of local elections and prevent states, counties, and cities from running elections while forcing federal funding for the campaigns of politicians.”
State Representative Jake Hoffman (R-LD12),” the bill’s sponsor, stated: “Out-of-state Democrat billionaires spent nearly half a billion dollars in private funding to influence the administration of county and state elections operations nationally, including millions here in Arizona.
SCOTUS Voting Rights Rulings
Cázares-Kelly is extremely disappointed in the recent Supreme Court decision banning ballot collection and out-of-precinct voting. However, she would like the community to know that this will not change any of the policies or procedures in the state.””The recent Supreme Court decisions on voting rights upheld two measures in Arizona that have already been signed into law,” Cázares-Kelly says.
“The first, ballot collection [derogatorily called ‘ballot harvesting’] is not currently allowed.
“It does impact communities of color the most. It does impact the way neighbors are helping neighbors in communities of color. “However, nothing has changed. People can still deliver the ballots of their household members, spouses, children, their roommates.”
“The policy that voters could not vote outside of their precinct on Election Day–was always something we abided by,” Cázares-Kelly says.
Vote Center Model
“In Pima County, we’re moving to the vote center model, where any registered voter can vote at any voting center within the county.”
“If they live in South Tucson but work in North Tucson, they could vote in either location, whatever’s most convenient.
“Voter outreach is going incredibly well,” Cázares-Kelly says, which is not surprising considering that she is an organizer and educator.
“She is a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation, which is the size of Connecticut, but most people don’t know it’s there,” she told Tucson Week’s Nicole Ludden, less than a month before her victory last November.
“There is one post office that serves the entire Tohono O’odham nation. However, when I first started registering people, we found that [the post office] didn’t carry voter registration forms.’
After she spoke with her Democratic predecessor, F. Ann Rodriguez, twice about the missing registration forms, the reservation’s sole post office received them,” Cázares-Kelly tells Tucson Week’s Ludden.
“Rather than educating Rodriguez’s replacement and crossing my fingers the new Recorder wouldn’t be anti-native or a White Supremacist, I decided to take matters into her own hands and run for office, ” Cázares-Kelly says.
Juneteenth a Rousing Success
Cázares-Kelly says her Juneteenth event was effective in bringing people together.
“I’ve been doing outreach with many, many groups of people throughout these past six months.
“I’ve been speaking at high schools, colleges, The Rotary Club, fire firefighters, women’s groups, Democratic Party groups, and Green Party groups.”
H.R. 1 Voting Rights Highlights
“For the People Act (HR1) touches on three broad categories of reforms: voting, campaign finance, and ethics,” Cázares-Kelly notes.
“This is an outline of just the voting rights part that I drew up to allow online voter registration through a website and inspire states other than Arizona to permit voters to update their voting addresses online.”
“In Arizona, this is already done through ServiceArizona.com.
- Email Addresses
“HR-1 would require states to allow voters (at their option) to provide their email addresses.
“If a voter provides this information, County Recorders would have to email responses to all the email addresses voters listed seven days before an election notifying the voter of where they can find their polling place.”
- Motor Vehicle/Voter Registration
“Mandates automatic voter registration along with drivers’ licenses starting in 2023, after the midterm elections.
“The state DMV and Arizona’s Department of Economic Security (which administers public benefits programs) would be required to share their lists of all U.S. citizens with County Recorders.
“Some federal agencies would also be required to share their lists with the Social Security Administration.
“The County Recorders would have a certain number of days to convert these Social Security lists into voter registration lists.
“This essentially would make every adult citizen who has interacted with other Arizona state agencies automatically registered to vote.
“State agencies, like the DMV, are required to share info of citizens between 16 and 18 years old,”
Upon a U.S. citizens’ 18th birthday, they would automatically become voters.
- Voting After a Felony
“If a person is convicted of a federal felony, the federal prison system would be required to tell the state when a person finishes their federal sentence, and the County Recorder would have to automatically register them if they’re otherwise eligible under state law.”
“Colleges and universities would also have to share their lists of students who have committed felonies with County Recorders,” Cázares-Kelly says.
“The federal government would allocate money to the states for implementing this directive: $500 million in the first year, divided among all the states.”
- Same-Day Registration, High School Voter Education, Intimidating Voters a Federal Crime
“Requires same-day voter registration beginning for November 2022 mid-term election.
“Creates a grant program, like a pilot program, for states to conduct voter education programs for high school students to encourage them to vote when they’re 18.
“Makes voter intimidation a federal crime.”
Married to a Community Leader
Ms. Cázares-Kelly and her husband Ryan Kelly were both community leaders before Cázares-Kelly landed her Pima County Recorder seat. The couple has twins who recently became voters.
Cázares-Kelly was an educator for 14 years, working in high schools and community colleges, an English teacher, and an academic advisor.
Before that, she was President of the Progressive Democrats of Southern Arizona, vice-chair of the Arizona Democratic Party’s Native American Caucus, a board member for the University of Arizona’s Education Policy Center, and a former executive committee member for the Pima County Democratic Party, representing Bernie Sanders.
Cázares-Kelly demonstrates Sanders’ fearlessness in fighting uphill battles like voter disenfranchisement after a felony; and Sanders’ smarts when innovative ideas are necessary.
One of her ideas is using text messaging: contacting voters when ballots are mailed, when the Recorder’s office receives them, and when they’re approaching the deadline.
Voters will rest assured their votes count when they can track them like they track their online deliveries.
Contact Gabriella Cázares-Kelly
“One of the most important messages: please be in contact with our office through @Pima Recorder,” Cázares-Kelly says.
“We’re on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok @PimaRecorder.
“Our website is: Recorder.Pima.gov
Discover more from Blog for Arizona
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.