‌‌‌‌‌Bill Would Give Arizona Legislature Election Rejection Authority

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Hello readers!

A striking number of Republican legislators in Arizona last week introduced a bill that would give them the ability to reject election results, following up on a failed effort from last year.

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Arizona Republicans Propose Giving Themselves Power To Reject Election Results

After a similar attempt failed last year, ARIZONA Republicans have proposed a change to state law that would allow the legislature to reject election results.

According to the draft bill text, “The legislature shall call itself into session to review the ballot tabulating process for the regular primary and general elections and on review shall accept or reject the election results.”

If the legislature rejects the election results, according to the draft legislation, “any qualified elector may file an action in the superior court to request that a new election be held.”

The proposal may not get very far: Republicans only have one vote to spare in both the House and Senate, and some Republicans are likely to oppose such a drastic change.

But the fact that the bill has the support it does is notable: 16 Republicans, led by state House Rep. John Fillmore, have signed on as co-sponsors, not an insignificant number at all.

California Clerk’s Office Suspends In-Person Service After Physical Incident

The Nevada County, CALIFORNIA clerk’s office closed recently after a physical altercation involving a group of people petitioning to recall the county commission.

The local paper, The Union, first picked up on the story last week: On Jan. 19, a group of recall supporters — they want to remove county officials due to COVID restrictions — went to the clerk’s office to check about their recall petition language. They weren’t wearing masks, and got into an argument with Deputy Clerk Natalie Adona about the office’s mask rule.

The next day, they returned. But this time, when a staffer in the office opened the door a crack, things got ugly.

“One of my staff members had answered the door, and she made an effort to remind them of what our procedures are,” Adona recalled to me over the phone last week. “One of the proponents put her foot and her arm into a partially opened doorway and shoved the door hard. And they just walked in.”

Recall supporters say they’re the real victims, and that the clerk’s office staffer tried to slam the door on them.

Around The States

The impact of GEORGIA’s new mail ballot restrictions is immense: Mother Jones reports that November 2021 voters in municipal elections in Georgia were 45 times — 45 times! — more likely to have their mail ballot applications rejected than in 2020. And those who obtained mail ballots were twice as likely to have them rejected as the same group was in 2020. One significant caveat: The sample size of 2021 voters is much smaller than 2020’s voter base.

Separately, a judge in the state has been asked to release a sealed report on voting machine vulnerabilities, one that has become fodder for right-wingers spreading doubt about the last election. Jessica Huseman has some crucial context on the report here.

We had another update last week out of TEXAS, where officials are scrambling to accommodate Republicans’ new absentee voter ID requirements. I spoke to the director of voter outreach in Harris County (Houston) as well as the president of the Texas League of Women Voters here.

This story distills the tragic effects of the new restrictions: A 95-year-old World War II veteran who’s voted his whole life is now in limbo: He needs the ID number on his registration to match the ID number he used to register to vote, but… the state didn’t record ID numbers when he registered as a young man.

A PENNSYLVANIA court struck down the state’s 2019 mail-in voting expansion. The state Supreme Court could reverse that ruling, though.

WISCONSIN voters will be able to use drop boxes for some upcoming February primary elections, thanks to an appeals court’s stay, but the state’s election commission is at a deadlock on the issue, likely leaving the matter to the state’s Supreme Court.

VIRGINIA Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) appears poised to replace the state’s top election official.

The NEW YORK legislature — not a redistricting committee — will draw its own district lines, as well as U.S. congressional districts in the state. Proposals from the legislature show some crazy gerrymandering that, yes, likely would have been prohibited by the stalled congressional voting rights legislation.

ALABAMA has asked the Supreme Court to reinstate a Republican congressional gerrymander that a lower court struck down for violating the Voting Rights Act.

A federal trial over FLORIDA’s new election restrictions began today.

The Latest In Election Sabotage

More and more MICHIGAN Republicans who believe lies about the 2020 election are being appointed to election canvassing boards that certify vote totals.

Could it be? Another COLORADO County clerk is under scrutiny for allegedly copying the contents of a voting machine hard drive and giving the copies to two attorneys.

Groups claiming 2020 election fraud are a dime a dozen, but this is fun: When the Orange County Register fact-checked CALIFORNIA conspiracy theorist James Peters’ claim that five people were registered at his address — only he and his wife live there — they found the claim to be false. “After such questions were raised,” the paper reported, “the Patriot Force website came down and Peters asked to retract the interview he’d requested.

TEXAS Republicans want to give Attorney General Ken Paxton, rather than local prosecutors, full authority to investigate and prosecute election fraud cases.

TPM: Redistricting Cases Threaten Minority Coalitions As Those Voters Flex Their Power

WaPo: Black and Latino voters have been shortchanged in redistricting, advocates and some judges say

TPM: Second Person Arrested By DOJ Election Unit Made Repeated, Violent Calls To Nevada SoS Office

The Guardian: Georgia county purges Democrats from election board and cancels Sunday voting

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