Arizona Secretary of State

IOKIYAR: Secretary of State violates election laws with impunity and no accountability

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Earlier this week, attorney Tom Ryan filed a complaint with the Secretary of State and the Attorney General seeking to void the May 17 Special Election and reschedule it to the August primary election or to the November general election, Complaint (.pdf), because the Secretary of State had failed to mail publicity pamphlets regarding the election to over 200,000 households affecting over 400,000 voters.

Ryan cited a law signed into law last year by Governor Doug Ducey, which requires “strict compliance” with requirements for the referendum process. Secretary of State Michele Reagan herself advocated for the law.

MicheleReaganReagan’s office conceded that it had violated the law. The facts are not in dispute. Reagan’s office also engaged in a cover up not pro-actively disclosing it’s violation of law until it was later discovered, but that’s another matter.

Reagan’s response to Ryan’s complaint  effectively boiled down to “Yeah I violated the law, so whaddya gonna do about it? The election is not going to be canceled.“Reagan won’t cancel next week’s special election.

Which put the ball in the court of Attorney General Mark Brnovich. Stephen Lemons of the Phoenix New Times reports, Attorney General Says Secretary of State Broke Law, but Won’t Sue to Halt Special Election:

An angry Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich told reporters on Thursday that Secretary of State Michele Reagan “did indeed violate Arizona law” in not sending out hundreds of thousands of publicity pamphlets regarding Tuesday’s special election. But the AG said he won’t go into court to stop the election from taking place.

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Complaint filed to delay Special Election over Secretary of State’s failure to ‘strictly comply’ with election laws

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MicheleReaganArizona’s queen of voter suppression, Secretary of State Michele Reagan, has demonstrated once again that she is totally incompetent as the chief elections officer of Arizona.

In March, there was the fiasco of the Presidential Preference Election in Maricopa County. There is now a U.S. Justice Department investigation and a lawsuit by the Democratic Party and voting rights organizations over that screw up.

And now there’s this: Lawyer to seek Prop. 123 postponement after 200,000 election pamphlets delayed:

Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan’s office failed to send out publicity pamphlets for next week’s special election to more than 200,000 households with multiple voters in all but Pima and Maricopa counties, her spokesman said Monday.

Reagan spokesman Matt Roberts said the pamphlets should have reached voters 10 days before early voting started on April 20 and blamed a private vendor for the problem. By the time the mistake was discovered and new voter guides mailed and received, it was May 6.

Roberts didn’t say why the public wasn’t notified when the problem was discovered more than two weeks ago.

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SCOTUS upholds state legislative district redistricting plan (updated)

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Every challenge the Arizona Republican Party has made to the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) redistricting plan for Arizona has ended in failure.

SupremeCourtThe latest attempt has again ended in failure.

Today the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in Harris v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (.pdf) rejecting the challenge to legislative districts from the Original North Phoenix Tea Party founder Wesley Harris. Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan  filed an amicus brief in support of Harris. Attorney General Mark Brnovich had to argue in favor of the Secretary of State at oral argument before the Court.

A three judge panel of the U.S. District Court for Arizona, by a vote of 2 to 1, entered a judgment for the AIRC. The majority found that “the population deviations were primarily a result of good-faith efforts to comply with the Voting Rights Act . . . even though partisanship played some role.” 993 F. Supp. 2d 1042, 1046 (Ariz. 2014). Appellants sought direct review in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Justice Breyer delivered the unanimous opinion of the Court:

The Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause requires States to “make an honest and good faith effort to construct [legislative] districts . . . as nearly of equal population as is practicable.” Reynolds, 377 U. S., at 577. The Constitution, however, does not demand mathematical perfection. In determining what is “practicable,” we have recognized that the Constitution permits deviation when it is justified by “legitimate considerations incident to the effectuation of a rational state policy.” Id., at 579.

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A ‘citizens veto’ (referendum) of SB 1516 is under consideration

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Yesterday when I posted about SB 1516 (.pdf), the so-called “Campaign Finance Amendments” bill from Secretary of State Michele Reagan, more appropriately titled the “dark money on steroids” bill, The GOP culture of corruption in Arizona embraces its dark side, I suggested:

dark_moneyIt may be a more practical alternative to force a citizens referendum of SB 1516 — a referendum requires about half the number of signatures as an initiative, 75,321 valid signatures — as voters successfully did for the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, just a couple of years ago. AZ Lege seeks to repeal the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, to deprive the voters of their ‘citizens veto’. It is something that clean elections and voting rights advocates need to consider.

Well speak of the devil. Howard Fischer reports, Opponent of ‘dark money’ disclosure bill considering seeking public vote:

Arizona voters may get the last word on sweeping legislation that alters the rules for “dark money” and other anonymous donations to politicians and ballot measures.

Rep. Ken Clark, D-Phoenix, who led the unsuccessful attempt to defeat the measure earlier this week, said he is setting up meetings with groups that would be interested in referring SB 1516 to the November ballot.

That includes former Attorney General Terry Goddard, who had launched an initiative drive to enact new state laws forcing greater disclosure of who is influencing elections. That campaign has been suspended while Goddard looks for donations after the initial source of funding dried up.

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What went wrong in Arizona’s election

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Arizona — OK, the state of Maricopa — was a national disgrace last week with an epic failure on election day for the Presidential Preference Election.  Some voters stood in line for over five hours to vote (which reminds me of the determined souls who stood in the cold for over ten hours in Ohio in 2004, No One Should Have to Stand in Line for 10 Hours to Vote, and the voters who stood in line for over seven hours in Florida in 2012. No One in America Should Have to Wait 7 Hours to Vote; Florida Voting Lines Discouraged 201,000 Voters Statewide).

Screenshot from 2016-03-28 13:33:22

A special Arizona House Elections Committee hearing today will take testimony from Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell, and Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan will announce the results of her preliminary review before the hearing. Arizona House panel to review election foul-ups. You can bet that the Secretary of State will not name everyone responsible for this epic failure.

John Roberts and the Conservative Activist Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court

Chief Justice John Roberts spent his entire legal career seeking to undermine the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He achieved his life’s goal in 2013 with Shelby County v. Holder. The Election in Arizona Was a Mess:

Arizona has a long history of problems at the ballot box. Until 2013, the Grand Canyon State was one of 16 states required to clear all changes to voting law and procedures with the U.S. Department of Justice, under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, because of its history of discriminatory and racist election practices.

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