‌‌‌‌‌Arizona GOP Wants Second Shot At Eliminating Early Voting

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Franchise readers, Wisconsin is ground zero in the fight for voting rights: whether we beat back far-right attacks on the freedom to vote could determine the future of our democracy. Add your name to help us fight back.

Hello readers!

The vast majority of Arizonans vote early. So why do the state’s Republicans keep trying to eliminate that avenue altogether, an effort that could disproportionately impact Democratic voters? Well, not to dampen voter turnout, they say: It’s really about the sanctity of the vote…

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Alright, let’s dig in.

Arizona Republicans Want Another Chance To Eliminate Early Voting

Earlier this year, the Republican Party of ARIZONA sued in state court, asserting that nearly all of the state’s early voting measures — like drop boxes and absentee voting — were illegal and Arizonans should only be able to vote on Election Day itself. This despite nearly 90% of the state’s voters opting to cast their ballots early in 2020.

The state’s Supreme Court, to which the GOP had sought to have the case expedited, rejected the effort on procedural grounds, saying the Republican Party should have started the argument in a lower court.

Well, they’re back, in a lower court, making essentially the same argument, with certain exceptions such as for voters who aren’t home on Election Day and the elderly. 
 

Voting rights groups are understandably concerned about this effort. As the League of Women Voters said last month, eliminating early voting “unjustly targets voters in underserved communities, the elderly, voters with disabilities, and those who live in rural communities or lack reliable transportation to the polls including Native Americans.” While early voting is supported by the vast majority of Arizonans, limiting it may disproportionately hurt groups that tend to vote Democratic.

A lawyer for the party said that, actually, the effort to eliminate the preferred voting method of the vast majority of Arizonans wasn’t about any of that. It was really about the integrity of the secret ballot. He imagined union toughs intimidating a voter who they knew had requested, but not returned, a ballot: “Hey, by the way, Mr. Voter, we know you haven’t returned your ballot and you have it somewhere in there, here’s the union line and you’d better vote that line, and we’ll just stand here to make sure you cast your ballot,” said the attorney, Alexander Kolodin, Capitol Media Services reported. Okay then. 

Election Subversion Enters Its Second Year 

A trio of voting rights groups is out with a new report on election subversion, or efforts by Republican state legislatures to enact policies that make anti-democratic (small d) outcomes more likely.

“This year alone, lawmakers have introduced scores of new bills that increase the likelihood of election subversion, whether directly or indirectly,” the report states. A few months after Jan. 6, the groups identified 148 bills that would have allowed state legislatures to “politicize, criminalize, or interfere with elections. Today, legislatures in 33 states are considering 229 bills of the same nature, according to the report. In all, fifty have been adopted into law. 
 

I spoke last week to Ken Matta, the outgoing election security lead in Arizona, who expressed his frustration with politicians who “armchair quarterback” the electoral process by writing new legislation without the input of election officials.

There’s a lot more to Matta’s story, and it does not bode well for our faith in democracy. Take a read here. 

Around The States

SPONSORED MESSAGE FROM THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF WISCONSIN*

Franchise readers, Wisconsin is ground zero in the fight for voting rights: whether we beat back far-right attacks on the freedom to vote could determine the future of our democracy. Add your name to help us fight back.

A FLORIDA appellate court reimposed a stay on a lower court’s ruling that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ gerrymandered congressional map was unconstitutional — meaning that, for now, DeSantis’ GOP-heavy map is the law of the land. 
 

Why is it taking so long to get primary ballots counted in PENNSYLVANIA? Because even after the same thing happened in 2020, the state’s Republicans refused to allow election officials to do what they do in other states: remove mail-in ballots from envelopes and process them a few days before Election Day. Thus, it’s slow going. 
 

NEW YORK’s congressional map is creating some chaos for Democrats in the state, pitting congressional veterans against each other and squeezing candidates of color. Here’s a look at how the court-appointed cartographer drastically shook things up for Democrats. (I wrote this article Friday about the draft proposal, which is slightly different than the final version announced later that day. See Politico for the latest.)
 

The LOUISIANA legislature passed a bill to ban private donations to elections offices, part of a growing trend around the country. 
 

MISSOURI’s governor signed a new law requiring a government-issued photo ID to vote. 
 

Fully 15% of mail-in ballots have been rejected in El Paso TEXAS’ primary run-off elections, a statistic largely attributable to Texas Republicans’ new voting law. 

There’s been a possible theft of election equipment in one MISSISSIPPI county, but surveillance footage hasn’t turned anything up and there are no signs of forced entry. “It seems suspicious because it was not a burglary that occurred,” Sheriff Tyree Jones told WLBT. “It could possibly be someone that had access to the facility.”
 

The KANSAS Supreme Court upheld the Republican gerrymander of the state, reversing a lower court’s ruling.

The Latest In Election Sabotage

A judge sanctioned MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell for “frivolous” claims against voting machine manufacturers, such as the assertion that they acted akin to a criminal price-fixing operation in order to bully him out of complaining about the 2020 election. 
 

Separately, Lindell’s loose-lipped chat about giving indicted COLORADO county clerk Tina Peters $800,000 for her defense fund led to the opening of an ethics investigation. 
 

Speaking of Peters: A local district attorney looked into her election fraud claims and, of course, found nothing of note. 
 

Doug Mastriano, PENNSYLVANIA Republicans’ new nominee for governor, has a long history of lying about the last election, and even joining the effort to steal the race for Trump. When election conspiracy theorist Ivan Raiklin commented “20 electoral votes as well” to Mastriano at the victory party — a seeming reference to Pennsylvania’s tally in the electoral college — the would-be governor responded, “Oh yeahhhh,” The Washington Post reported. 
 

MICHIGAN‘s election chief said she was told that Trump wanted her behind bars. 

Brennan Center: A Guide to Recent Scholarship on the ‘Independent State Legislature Theory’
 

NYT: Midterm Stakes Grow Clearer: Election Deniers Will Be on Many Ballots
 

Reuters: Facing Trump-inspired voter limits, Democrats gird for legal battles
 

ProPublica: The Hypnotherapist And Failed Politician Who Helped Fuel The Never-Ending Hunt For Election Fraud In Wisconsin
 

Texas Tribune: A GOP power grab shatters 30 years of political progress for Black voters in Galveston County

*Paid for by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, Wisdems.org. Not authorized by any candidate’s campaign or committee. Donations to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin are not tax deductible.

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