It’s time to start turning in petitions to ensure that the best voting law in the U.S. will appear on Arizona’s November ballot.
You might say, well the deadline is not until July 7. That’s true, but by July 7 the petitions have to be verified, sorted, placed in boxes on a rented truck and prepared to be hauled into the state capital.
You might say, well I only have five signatures on my sheet, or even two. Go ahead and get the sheet notarized and turn it in to one of our depots, shown on this map. Arizonans for Fair Elections (azfairelections.com)
If you want to continue to circulate, turn in what you have and start with a fresh petition.
The very last thing we want to do is leave signatures on a sheet sitting forgotten on someone’s back seat.
If you would like to volunteer (the final phase includes roles for new types of volunteers) please reach out via this form. secure.everyaction.com/... , If you would like to contribute, please help us at ActBlue
It’s been another wild week in Arizona as far as elections are concerned. The ultra-rightists of the GOP took their case to have mail balloting declared illegal back to Mohave County. The judge in Arizona’s most conservative county would have none of it.
There is simply nothing in the state Constitution to indicate mail ballots are not perfectly fine. The judge said as much. If the extremists in the Republican party do not like how people voted, there is no legal remedy for that, even in Kingman.
Once the Arizona Fair Elections Act is approved in November, mail ballots will become protected and even the Legislature will not be able to do away with them.
An aspect of the case that was interesting was the lack of Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich trying to defend the laws of the state. Granted, $90,000 is not a ton of money, but it is a very good job by Arizona standards, especially for a lackluster attorney. The fact Brnovich is willing to pocket the $90,000 and refuse to serve as the state’s lawyer, is something of a scandal. It’s not the first time Brnovich has been in trouble for not knowing what a lawyer is supposed to do. But he is sucking up just as hard as he can trying to get back into the good graces of the ultra-right-wing as he sees his run for the U.S. Senate fizzle like a leaky balloon.
The Arizona Fair Elections Act will do a number of important things – allow for automatic registration, allow for registration through election day, increase early voting, protect the state’s mail ballot system, eventually create a system to register eligible high school students, and count ballots that are postmarked by election day.
Arizona is the only state that requires proof of citizenship for voters, so there is essentially no voter fraud in Arizona. The system to establish citizenship has been made efficient over the years with election officials having instant access to Arizona birth certificate information. The new law will allow for expansion of that system so it will work equally well for people who have moved to Arizona from other states.
The proposed Arizona Fair Elections Act is popular with the disabled, and with Native Americans and other minorities. One interesting feature that the Disabilities community asked for: They want a plain English explanation of what they are voting on in the various ballot measures. Image that, disintermediating the legal gobbledygook so people know what they are voting on. The Arizona Citizens Clean Election Commission will be given the responsibility of providing a clear explanation of the ballot measures.
There will be several good measures on the ballot in November. Our friends at Healthcare Rising are placing a proposed law on the ballot that bans abusive debt collection practices, which can impoverish people who become sick. Arizona law currently allows people to preserve only $150,000 in equity in a house from debt collection, even though there are no $150,000 houses in livable condition in the Phoenix area.
The Stop Dark Money initiative will also be on the ballot. This group, led by former state Attorney General Terry Goddard, has fought for years in favor of a measure that forces disclosure of the origin of money involved in campaigns.
We are on track to get the 237,000 signatures we need for the Arizona Fair Elections Act, but we can always use more. Volunteer signatures are more valuable than signatures from paid circulators. This is partly because opposition lawyers are in the habit of issuing subpoenas to all paid circulators and throwing out the signatures of those paid circulators who fair to appear in court. (Our Initiative prohibits this abusive practice in future elections.)
If you would like to help, please contribute at ActBlue or mail a check to Arizona Deserves Better, c/o Eric Kramer, 1910 Douglas Fir Dr., Pinetop, AZ 85935. To volunteer, go to secure.everyaction.com/... , .
Please get your signatures turned in and then go get more.