Arizona bill would allow legislature to overturn election results | TheHill
By: Reid Wilson (TheHill)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
An arch conservative member of Arizona's state House of Representatives has proposed a mammoth overhaul of the state's voting procedures that would allow legislators to overturn the results of a primary or general election after months of unfounded allegations and partisan audits.
The bill, introduced by state Rep. John Fillmore (R), would substantially change the way Arizonans vote by eliminating most early and absentee voting and requiring people to vote in their home precincts, rather than at vote centers set up around the state.
Most dramatically, Fillmore's bill would require the legislature to hold a special session after an election to review election processes and results, and to "accept or reject the election results."
The proposal comes after President Biden became the first Democrat since former President Clinton to win Arizona's electoral votes. He defeated former President Donald Trump there by just under 11,000 votes, or about three-tenths of a percentage point.
Ever since, Arizona Republicans have been riven between election denialists who have pushed to investigate or overturn those results and more mainstream legislators — and Gov. Doug Ducey (R) — who have tried to move on. An audit, conducted by an inexperienced firm called Cyber Ninjas, failed to uncover evidence of fraud or miscounting.
But Fillmore said at a committee hearing Wednesday he still does not believe the reports he has seen, though he maintained his skepticism has little to do with the ultimate winner.
"I don't care what the press says. I don't trust ABC, CBS, NBC or Fox or anybody out there. Everybody's lying to me and I feel like I have a couple hundred ex-wives hanging around me," Fillmore said. "This is not a President Biden thing. This is not a the other red-headed guy thing."
"We should have voting in my opinion in person, one day, on paper, with no electronic means and hand counting that day. We need to get back to 1958-style voting," he added.
Arizona Republicans, who shepherded through major overhauls of voting rights last year, are continuing their efforts to change election procedures in this year's session. Legislators have introduced dozens of measures to change procedures around absentee ballots, which the vast majority of Arizona voters use to cast their votes, as well as rules about where people can vote and how election administrators go about cleaning up the voter rolls.
Fillmore's legislation is unlikely to gain much traction, but it is a sign that some Republicans have embraced the idea that legislators should have veto power over the will of the voters if they do not like the results.
Arizona is one of seven states where Trump supporters created a series of fake documents purported to be from a slate of electors who voted for Trump in the 2020 elections. A senior Justice Department official said this week that those documents are being investigated. Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) last month referred the matter to Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R), though Brnovich too has questioned the integrity of the 2020 elections.
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So he wants only one day to vote and be able to dismiss said votes...
This guy is Looney Tunes. Maybe his constituents will vote him out.
Now...how is it constitutional to overturn the results of an election that happened15 months ago?
Technically, he is correct on the one day thing. Constitutionally, we have the RIGHT to vote.........in person and on election day. That we are afforded early voting and mail in voting is a privilege granted only. The only way the one day thing would work is if it were a national holiday and the polls would open at 12:01 AM and close at 12:00 Midnight.
I don't agree with this, as TG puts it, Looney Tune though. What he is proposing is too much change too damned quick.
I didn't know the right to vote was only for a specific day....
Damn, Jim! Which one of us took our happy pills this morning?
I think that's why states have jurisdiction on voting
That's the way it always was but with the population growing, it was no longer practical I guess and there is this.........
So basically there was never a law that said it had to happen on one day. It would be up to the states to decide.
Yep. We have the right to vote.. on the day(s), as it turns out, specified by the states.
Seems to be standard SOP for the righties.
that's what I was thinking...
free and fair elections, republican style...
Pure insanity. People who seriously propose this sort of thing should be locked up.
They have no business being in any legislature.
Because it works so well in Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba, Russia and all of the fuckingstans?
What is it with some people that act like the fifties was some golden age.
that's when the minorities knew their place, praying in schools sometimes worked for morons, lots of commies to be skeered of, and the bullet heads, white supremacists, and neo-nazis could still get it up.
seeing as how the US population is about 322 million, and 168+ million people were registered to vote with 159+ million voting in the 2020 election. there seems to be a faction of logistically challenged americans that insist on in-person voting on a single day. I guess using that rationale everyone in the US could have been vaccinated for covid in 2 days if all the vaccines were available and the pandemic would be over. I'm glad I live in a sane state where republicans are in the minority and I can vote by mail or drive less than a mile to a ballot collection box that would total any vehicle that ran into it and require a forklift to move it.