Arizona Republicans are passing one voter suppression bill after another. In this video, I highlight a handful of voter suppression bills that were heard on the same day. Many more have passed either the Senate or the House. This is just the tip of the 100-bill voter suppression iceberg that is on a collision course with your right to vote.
Continue reading Republicans Push 100 Bills to Discourage Voting & Sow Chaos (video)
There’s never a dull moment in the Arizona Legislature when we debate voter suppression. There are more than 30 voter suppression bills currently in play. Arizona Republicans are #1 in the nation for their productivity. The sheer volume of bad bills that make it harder to vote, harder to register to vote, and easier to hide campaign donations is staggering. Many thanks to the hundreds of people who signed into RTS against these terrible attacks on your right to vote.
This video discuss several voter suppression bills from Reps. John Kavanagh and Jake Hoffman: HB2723 (campaign finance); HB2792 (felony charges for election workers who mail an unrequested ballot); HB2793 (criminalizing volunteers who register people to vote); HB2811 (ban on same-day voting); HB2569 (ban on elections departments taking outside funds to run the elections); HB2794 (ban on changing election deadlines, even during a pandemic); and HCR2023 (attack on Congressional voter rights bill HR1). (Correction to the video: I named Kavanagh and Chaplik as the source for these voter suppression bills, when in fact, these bills should be credited to Kavanagh and Hoffman. Hoffman gets the prize for proposing six voter suppression, although Kavanagh infamously said the the Government and Elections Committee that government should not look at the “quality of the votes” in an election — not just the quantity.)
The citizens of Arizona created the Citizens Clean Elections Commission (CCEC) and the process to run as a “clean” candidate in 1998. It was a reaction by the people of Arizona to widespread corruption in the Arizona Legislature, following the AZ Scam investigation. Every year since then, Arizona Republicans have mounted an attack on Clean Elections. Heaven forbid … we should allow politicians to run for office on their ideas and values and deny big money donations. Every year that he has been in office, Rep. Leo Biasiucci has been the CCEC hit man. His HB2014 weakens the watchdog function of the Clean Elections Commission by adding more bureaucracy. I believe that Clean Elections should be expanded — not repeatedly attacked and weakened.
Continue reading RTS Alert HB2014: Republicans Attack Clean Elections … Again (video)
Voter turnout statewide and in Legislative District 9 — particularly among Democrats — has been phenomenal. There are still a few more days to vote in person or to drop off a paper ballot. Here are several links from the Pima County Recorder’s Office, from the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office, and from the Citizens Clean Elections Commission.
Here is a list of Curbside Ballot Drop-Off Sites in Pima County where you can drop off a paper ballot between now and 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 2.
Here is a list of Early and Emergency Voting Sites in Pima County.
Here you can find your polling location in Pima County.
Here you can check the status of your mail-in ballot with the Secretary of State’s Office to verify that it has been counted.
Here is a link to the Voter Information Portal on the Arizona Secretary of State’s website.
Here is what you have to take to the polls to vote in person, provided by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission.
Continue reading Helpful Voting Links: Nov 3rd Election Day Is Fast-Approaching
Tens of thousands of Arizona voters– regardless of party affiliation– have signed up for the state’s vote-by-mail system by adding their names to the Permanent Early Voting List (PEVL).
Vote-by-mail is safe and convenient. The current anti-mail-in ballot rhetoric from the Republican Party is meant to suppress the vote by stonewalling against mandates for national or statewide all-mail-in elections, given the COVID19 pandemic.
In-person voting during the COVID19 is risky for voters and poll workers. Wisconsin allowed people to vote at the polls in April, and one month later there were 71 COVID19 infections tracked to voters or poll workers.
Democratic Party Legislators have been pushing for all-mail-in ballots for the 2020 primary and general elections, but the Republicans are dead set against expanding vote-by-mail.
Sign Up for Vote-By-Mail
You can voluntarily add yourself to the PEVL list by going to ServiceArizona.com.
Continue reading #COVID19: ‘Vote-by-Mail’ Is Safe Way to Vote during a Pandemic
It was another late night on Wednesday, but I snuck away to my office for a couple of minutes to do a video in the daylight.
It’s about this time in the session when the Democrats start to get ornery because one bad bill after another is passed on a party line vote. If something fails, one of the good old boys or good old girls brings it back up for reconsideration, and all of the Republicans march in a line and revive the Zombie Bill, as directed. Occasionally, bills die a second time like the rodeo license plate that would have benefited the Spirit of the West Museum in Scottsdale. That died for the second time yesterday– thanks to Reps. Shawnna Bolick and Michelle Udall joining the ranks of representatives who are fed up with license plates. (I did a previous update on this topic.)
Governor Doug Ducey and Republican Legislators often pontificate about reducing bureaucracy and regulation. They then turn around and create more bureaucracy and regulations surrounding issues and services that they don’t like–for example, women’s reproductive rights, Clean Elections, voter rights, independent redistricting, the Citizens Initiative, marijuana… you get the idea. Today’s video is about three Republican bills that create new, unnecessary and redundant bureaucracy, regulations, and structure in the government.
Continue reading #AZHouse #Republican Bills Create Unnecessary Bureaucracy & Regulation (video)