UPDATE: The GQP Queen of Voter Suppression, Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita is pushing Senate Bill 1485.
As originally proposed, it spelled out that if someone does not return an early ballot in at least one of four prior elections — meaning a primary and a general election in two successive years — the person is dropped from what would no longer be called the permanent early voting list. [What part of “permanent” do you not understand?] They could still sign up again to get early ballots and they could still go directly to the polls on Election Day.
The GQP Queen of Voter Suppression agreed to an amendment to her EVL (evil) bill before the House voted on it on Tuesday.
The amendment will also change the somewhat unfortunate new name of PEVL from Early Voting List (EVL)
— Jeremy Duda (@jeremyduda) April 20, 2021
The Amended Senate Bill 1485 passed the House on a party-line line vote of 31-29. Since it was amended, it will have to be voted on again by the Senate to conform. It will again pass on a party-line vote.
You should start contacting Governor Ducey’s office now and tell him to “kill this bill” with his veto.
Laurie Roberts writes at The Republic. Arizona House Republicans deliver election payback in a stunning display (of desperation):
The Arizona House delivered payback to certain Arizona voters on Tuesday, approving a bill that would purge easily more than 100,000 people from the state’s early voting rolls.
Not only did House Republicans make it more difficult for a certain sort of voter to cast a ballot in future elections, they refused even to allow debate on the bill.
Not if the majority party doesn't want them to. https://t.co/Q2cXGMIGuF
— Jim Small (@JimSmall) April 20, 2021
https://twitter.com/Esposition/status/1384658330895863811
Then, during the final roll call when legislators are allowed to explain their votes, they silenced any Democrat who dared point to the big hairy elephant in the room.
“This,” said Rep. Aaron Lieberman, D-Phoenix, “is an effort to make it harder for people of color to vote.”
He was abruptly cut off, ordered by House Speaker Rusty Bowers to sit down for “impugning the motives” of Republicans. Apparently, speaking truth to power is a violation of House rules.
Members of the once-Grand Old Party explained that the bill is simply a clean-up of Arizona’s voter rolls and certainly not an effort to do whatever it takes to maintain their grip on power in the state.
“This bill is essentially about security, the security of the vote,” Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said.
Funny, isn’t it, that the security of the vote wasn’t an issue until Donald Trump lost?
Actually, that’s not totally true. The bill was first introduced in 2019, after the state sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate for the first time in 30 years.
Senate Bill 1485 would remove voters from the state’s Permanent Early Voting List (PEVL) if they don’t vote in two consecutive election cycles. They would be notified that they no longer will automatically receive an early ballot unless they make a request in writing within 90 days to remain on the list.
They still could go to the polls to cast a ballot.
Republicans contend this is a way to ensure that dead people and out-of-state residents aren’t getting ballots. But a spokesman for the Maricopa County Elections Department told me the county already has a procedures in place to remove those who have died or moved away from the voter rolls.
Democrats contend the bill disproportionately affects independents and minority voters, making it more difficult for them to vote.
The PEVL, created in 2007 [a Republican bill, by a Republican-controlled legislature], always has been popular with Arizona voters, especially Republicans, because it makes it so easy to vote.
Too easy, apparently.
In November, a whopping 88% of the 3.4 million Arizonans who voted cast early ballots.
But for the first time, Democrats came out in droves to vote early. What always had been the Republicans’ secret weapon to winning suddenly was being used by Democrats to drive up turnout.
Given that Biden won the state by just 10,457 votes and Kelly by 78,806 … well, I think you can figure out what’s going on here.
Rep. Raquel Terán, a Phoenix Democrat who also chairs the state Democratic Party, says 126,686 Arizonans who cast early ballots in November would have been removed from the PEVL had this bill been in effect last year. That includes nearly 30,000 Latinos, she said.
Greater Phoenix Leadership sees the bill for what it is. On the day Major League Baseball pulled the 2021 All-Star Game from Atlanta due to its new election law, the Phoenix business coalition sent a letter to Arizona’s legislative leaders urging them to back off of this and several other election “reforms”.
“These measures seek to disenfranchise voters,” GPL wrote. “They are ‘solutions’ in search of a problem. They are attempts at voter suppression cloaked as reform – plain and simple.”
Or, in the panicked view of Republicans, they are a rescue operation to a party that is struggling to maintain its control in a state that’s changing.
Rather than changing with it, promoting policies that would attract more voters, we get SB 1485.
The bill passed on a party line 31-29 vote and after one final stop in the Senate will be winging its way to Gov. Doug Ducey, who in December noted that Arizona has “some of the strongest election laws in the country”.
Ducey should immediately veto this scheme.
There is only one reason why Republican legislators want add obstacles to the state’s wildly popular early voting program.
Because their candidate lost.
We are about to find out if our “Wimpy Kid” Governor, who so far has rarely stood up to the wackos in the MAGA/Qanon personality cult of Donald Trump, has any principles and integrity at all.
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Rep. John Kavanagh put his foot in his big mouth again on CNN. “Arizona GOP representative struggles to justify state bill that would purge early voting list”, https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/23/politics/arizona-lawmaker-early-voting-list-legislation-cnntv/index.html
Arizona GQP lawmakers have put forth a bill, SB 1485, that would revise the state’s permanent early voting list that allows a voter to automatically be sent a ballot by mail for every election. The bill has since stalled, but could be revived.
[T] he legislation stalled Thursday after state GOP Sen. Kelly Townsend said she would vote against the bill pending a Republican-backed audit of Maricopa County’s 2.1 million 2020 election ballots.
“We’re moving forward to do bills to correct problems that came up during the election that need to be solved, regardless of whether there was actual fraud or nonexistent fraud,” State Sen. John Kavanagh, the chamber’s president pro tempore, told CNN’s Brianna Keilar on “New Day” Friday.
“What evidence do you have that that has led to voter fraud?” Keilar then asked. “You’re solving a problem that doesn’t exist and, in the process, purging people from the list.”
“That’s not true,” Kavanagh said.
[Yes, it is, he has no evidence.]
The Republican leader had previously told CNN that “not everybody wants to vote, and if somebody is uninterested in voting, that probably means that they’re totally uninformed on the issues.”
“Quantity is important, but we have to look at the quality of votes, as well,” he told CNN last month.
Pressed by Keilar on his comment Friday, Kavanagh said, “I don’t think we should send ballots if they are not interested. But if they are interested in voting, I would never stop somebody from voting.”
On CNN, Kavanagh defended the audit and said he would be interested in seeing the outcome, but that he doesn’t believe it would reverse any election results.
“There are people who are concerned who claim that there are big irregularities and the Senate wants to do an audit to either substantiate that or put to bed and allay fears,” [not true] he said, adding it’s a “distraction” from the need to advance election bills.
UPDATE 4/22/21: Funny thing happened when this amended bill went back to the Senate for a conforming vote. Arizona’s QAnon Queen, Sen Kelly Townsend, switched her vote to no, killing the bill on a tie vote. She said she did it because she wants to wait until after the Senate completes its sham election “fraudit.” “GOP lawmaker kills early voting bill, says audit results should come first”, https://www.azmirror.com/2021/04/22/gop-lawmaker-kills-early-voting-bill-says-audit-results-should-come-first/
The GQP Queen of Voter Suppression, Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita, the bill’s sponsor, accused Townsend of switching her vote for strictly retaliatory purposes. Ugenti-Rita chairs the Senate Government Committee, and would not give a hearing to several of Townsend’s election related bills.
“Obviously, this bill isn’t going to pass because the member from District 16, in a show of spite and in a rage, has decided to vote against it. It’s disappointing that someone who purports to care about election integrity, who purports to care about the voters, is deciding to kill a very important election bill,” Ugenti-Rita said. “It’s unfortunate to be on the receiving end of someone’s temper tantrum.”
Hmmm, sounds to me like you’re the one having the temper tantrum.
This reminds me of the battle between the witches in Disney’s “Oz The Great And Powerful.” They are both wicked witches.
More details about that Rep. Travis Grantham comment toRep. Reginald Bolding. “Arizona lawmaker uses racist slur and calls for Black representative to ‘be sat down’ and not ‘be allowed to speak’”, https://www.rawstory.com/arizona-lawmaker-uses-racist-slur-and-calls-for-black-representative-to-be-sat-down-and-not-be-allowed-to-speak/
A Republican state lawmaker used a racist slur on the floor of the Arizona state legislature and then called for another lawmaker, who is Black, to be ordered to “be sat down” and “not be allowed to speak.”
On Tuesday Rep. Travis Grantham, a Republican, interrupted Rep. Reginald Bolding, a Democrat, who was making a speech against a voter suppression bill.
“I feel personally that motives were arraigned of members, including myself, with regards to ‘colored people,’ Black people, whatever people this individual wants to single out, in their ability to vote, and I think it’s incorrect,” Grantham, who is 42-years old, charged.
“I think he should be sat down and he shouldn’t be allowed to speak,” he added, seemingly treating his colleague as a child.
The term “colored people” is racist, a slur, and dates back to the Jim Crow era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.