Democratic lawmakers have questioned the need for the list purge, warning that it would suppress turnout and make it harder to voters to participate in the 2020 elections.
That’s the whole idea.…
The Democrats should propose a trial purge of the list - for registered Republicans only. After the 2020 election the state government can assess the results of the purge and decide if it should be expanded to the entire early voting list.
That seems reasonable and a good scientific practice.
And so it begins…
A previous proposal of hers would ban people on the Permanent Early
Voting List from dropping off mail-in ballots at polling places or early
voting centers.
You have to be pretty hard core into voter suppression to go with that one.
In other news, water is wet.
As an Arizonan, it’s not news, just another example. I’ve seen quite a few legislative proposals this year that would curtail citizens’ rights one way or another.
If the Republicans (in the Arizona case crazed Trump zombies) can’t win fair and square, then obviously the rules need to change. Gawd is an old white man and gave old white men dominion over the earth, and expects white men to rule over lesser beings, including women and non-whites. This might seem to overstate their view, but remember the Republicans recently very reluctantly tossed one of their state legislators for paying a developmentally disabled child for sex. They are going to have to work very hard at getting the electorate small enough to love them.
It’s too bad, because the permanent early voting was one if the few things Arizona got almost right, if they could just figure out how to count the damned things.
I have done early voting in AZ for years. This last election, I went on the web site about a week after I voted and noted that my vote was still in limbo while my signature was being verified. It was eventually counted but this was the first time I had seen this.
To paraphrase Stalin, it is not who votes but who verifies the signatures. In 2018 the right guy was doing it. I think Sinema’s narrow victory is due in no small part to the efforts of the elections supervisor for Maricopa County. In his efforts to make sure all votes were counted, he has been accused of rigging the election for Democrats by every Republican in the state. ALL of the subsequent legislation (guaranteed to pass by the Republican controlled legislature and Governor Douchbag) is designed to remove his ability to actually help people to vote.
This is entirely in keeping with phase 2 of the Republican plan to hold onto power by any means necessary. And since Douchebag quietly packed the AZ Supreme Court several years ago, the third phase (of doing away with voter rights by judicial fiat) is in place and ready to be activated in the case of legal challenges.
Even in Arizona, Republicans simply cannot win on a level playing field as we are seeing evidenced across the nation. Instead of getting out the vote, they suppress the vote.
Very anti-American in my mind. Even as far back as with Rehnquist in the early 1960s (yes, that Chief Justice Rehnquist), Republicans in Arizona have been all about voter suppression. http://archive.democrats.com/view.cfm?id=698 .
Voter suppression and the Electoral College (not arguing the pros and cons here) have allowed minority party rule too many times here in the U.S. in my decades as a inhabitant of this spinning mudball.
I live in Arizona and this voter purge crap had me concerned. So, I just now called my local county recorder’s office to make damn sure I am still registeted to vote. The folks I spoke with said I was registered and were surprised to learn of this bill to purge the rolls. They’re certainly not happy about this.
You hafta understand Arizona’legislature members. The GOPers have held a majority in both state chambers since 1969. Fifty years without a break in either chamber. That ought to be some sort of record for American politics. But the demographics are changing and those in power wanna stay there. By any means necessary. So, voter purging and suppression of the vote are the methods of choice. In the 2016 election I saw several folks who were being questioned if they were registered or not.
The conservative hold on Arizona actually goes back a little further. It is true that there were “Democratic” majorities in the early 1960s and before, but these were “pinto Democrats,” rural conservative lawmakers at a time when each county had equal representation in the Legislature regardless of whether they had a few thousand residents or a few million. When we take control of the Legislature in 2020 (we need only a few more seats) it will be the first truly Democratic majority in a very long time.
“
Ifthis isnotan issue of voter suppression.”
FIFY Rep. Diego Rodriguez.
Wow, TPM, you almost had me, but I belatedly realized it’s April Fools Day.
Wait? You mean they’re serious?
That’s the problem with today’s GOP, you can never tell when you’re being pranked.
I just don’t ‘get’ how this is supposed to get the GOP more votes or what their stated rationale even is.
Gut early voting? What are they saying is the PROBLEM with early voting?
I am not sure whether they’re doing the “voting is a privilege” thing or claiming that someone who hasn’t voted for a while might be secretly replaced by a mutant, or just flat-out trying to suppress marginal voters. Not about getting more votes for them, but rather keeping people from voting for their opponents.
The no-drop-off thing is particularly mean. Nowadays, with online bill pay and so forth, there are probably a lot of people without stamps in the house.