A state House Republican in Arizona is refusing to vote on any bills unless the 2022 election is redone—ironically, holding back her party in the meantime.
A real estate agent and noted election denier, Republican state Rep. Liz Harris was elected to represent Legislative District 13 in the midterms. Her victory cemented a slim majority for Republicans in the state’s House of Representatives. She’s since decided to throw that away in pursuit of the Big Lie.
On Nov. 17, Harris issued a statement on Instagram and her campaign’s website announcing that she wouldn’t vote for any bills in the House because she believed the elections were toyed with in her state.
“Although I stand to win my Legislative District race it has become obvious that we need to hold a new election immediately,” the statement reads. “There are clear signs of foul play from machine malfunctions, chain of custody issues and just blatant mathematical impossibilities.”
The “foul play” she’s referring to stems mostly from a series of technical difficulties that occurred briefly on Election Day: 70 out of 223 voting centers in Maricopa County experienced issues with their printers that day, making it difficult for votes to be tabulated for a brief period. Poll workers quickly gave voters the option to put their ballots in a drop box to be tabulated later or vote at another precinct, and the printers were fixed within hours.
Harris, however, is continuing to seize on the technical glitch as fodder for MAGAworld’s election denialism and is hurting her party in the process. “I call on all state legislators to join me in demanding a new election,” Harris’s statement continues. “I will now be withholding my vote on any bills in this session without this new election in protest to what is clearly a potential fraudulent election.”
This isn’t great news for the Arizona GOP: Harris’s election gave them a tight majority of 31-29 in the House. If she refuses to do her job, that margin is reduced to 30-29.
Democrats in the state were hoping for a 30-30 tie, so they ran six candidates in legislative districts that were marked as competitive. But the plan went awry when Republican Michele Pena won a House seat in Legislative District 23, breaking their pursuit for a balanced statehouse.
Arizona is a strong purple state, so Harris’s protest—which is mostly symbolic at this point—would make it more difficult for her compatriots to pass bills that Democrats likely won’t be eager to support relating to immigration, LGBTQ rights and, ironically again, election integrity.
For Harris and other Big Lie believers, the fuss is clearly the point.
Reminds me of Sinn Fein refusing to take up their seats in Parliament, back in the day.
To bad they cannot compromise and give her a new election just for her seat.
Not only were the printers fixed within hours, but the Times says a) the glitches were not focused in Repub leaning precincts; and b) the Repubs have failed to find anyone who will testify they were unable to vote as the result of the glitch. (On the contrary, one of the complainers actually appears to have voted twice.)
Sigh.
She should refuse to swear the oath of office. That would leave her office vacant and thereby trigger a special election. I feel triggered!
Compromise? Why? I think her proposal – to NOT VOTE out of pique – is completely acceptable as it stands.