Capitol Media Services
PHOENIX -- It's billed as a measure to speed up election results.
But Senate Republicans on Tuesday adopted a far-reaching measure that, if approved by voters, would allow them to require people who choose to vote by mail -- the vast majority of Arizonans -- to provide some sort of proof of identity if they want their ballots counted.
What that would be, however, is not spelled out in SCR 1001. And Sen. Shawnna Bolick, the Phoenix Republican who is sponsoring the proposal, refused to answer questions about it from Democratic lawmakers. That's just part of it.
As written and given final Senate approval on a 17-13 party-line vote, the measure also puts language in the Arizona Constitution allowing lawmakers at some future date to eliminate mail-in voting entirely.
What it definitely would do is permanently eliminate the option that people now have to simply walk into a polling place on Election Day, drop off their early ballot, and leave. Instead, the last day for such an action would be the Friday before the election.
But those who wait until the last minute still could bring their early ballots to a voting center. What they would have to do -- which is not required now -- is first present identification which could require waiting in line, one reason people decide not to vote in person in the first place.
Potentially more significant, SCR 1001 would override current law that says people who ask for ballots to be mailed to them continue to get them every election cycle as long as they use them. Instead, it would require that there be a request for an early ballot prior to each election.
A prime driver behind all this is the question of how quickly Arizonans want to know who won an election -- and what they're willing to give up for faster results.
It's starts with the fact that more than 80% of Arizonans prefer to vote by mail versus showing up at a polling place.
What's crucial is that under current law there is no requirement for voters to provide identification. Instead, early ballots are reviewed to see if the signatures on the envelope match what county election officials have on record. If they do, the envelope is opened and the ballots are counted.
What has backed up the system is that in the 2004 general election, about 265,000 early ballots were dropped off on Election Day, including more than 210,00 in Maricopa County. But election workers can't even begin to verify them until after they've finished with the ballots cast that day.
In 2022 it took days to confirm that Democrat Katie Hobbs had won the gubernatorial election over Republican Kari Lake. And all that led to more than a year of litigation amid claims of fraud and mismanagement.
There were similar issues in the 2020 and 2024 presidential races.
If nothing else, Sen. J.D. Mesnard said the slow results have "made us the laughingstock of the country.'' SCR 1001, said the Chandler Republican, avoids the need to verify signatures on those "late-early ballots,'' allowing them to be tabulated immediately.
Senate Minority Leader Priya Sundareshan said there is no need to sacrifice voter convenience for speed. And the Tucson Democrat said there are other ways to speed up the process short of what's in the measure.
But Mesnard said that there's an important purpose behind all this.
"When you have on Election Day the appearance of an outcome that one person won and the other person lost only to have this reversed days later -- and I've seen this happen where the Republican was on top at first and the Democrat came back and won, and I've seen it in reverse,'' he said. "But the more you have that happen, the more people start to question it.''
Mesnard said it's just human nature. "They're not part of the counting process,'' he said. "And if their guy didn't win, they're going to wonder 'what's up?' ''
The central theme in all of this is early voting. Prior to 1991, the only people entitled to get an early ballot had to prove a special need, whether a physical infirmity or that they would be out of their voting precinct on Election Day.
That year the Republican-controlled legislature approved no-excuse early voting. And not only has it proven popular in statewide races but some jurisdictions, like Tempe, have all voting done by mail.
Democratic Sen. Lauren Kuby said that actually has increased voter turnout in her community. What may have changed since then, Democrats have suggested, is that their party has gotten better about getting out those early votes.
Kuby said this measure is the result of "a tiny and very loud minority of anti-American conspiracy theorists who can't stand the possibility that other people might vote.''
And Sen. Analise Ortiz, D-Phoenix, called the measure "the last gasp of a party that is deeply unpopular with the American people and is terrified of the people expressing themselves at the ballot box.''
Sen. Mark Finchem countered that SCR 1001 is "perhaps the most democratic thing we can do,'' given that it will be the voters in November who would get the last word about whether to ratify the constitutional proposal.
"It's as though some members of this body don't think the people are smart enough to vote,'' said the Prescott Republican. "The twisted logic there just does not compute.''
But Sundareshan said that the provisions that Democrats believe will impair voting access are being mixed in with some things that are popular, such as a requirement to present ID when voting in person and a ban on foreign contributions. And both of those, she said, already are illegal in Arizona, with or without SCR 1001.
She also said some other provisions may not be as obvious, like repealing the ability of people who now vote early to count on automatically get a ballot before every election. Instead, there would have to be "an affirmative request confirming a specific mail address prior to each biennial general election.''
Sen. Mitzi Epstein, D-Tempe, said that's going to come as a surprise to people who have voted early -- and gotten a ballot by mail -- for years.
There's also the fact that Bolick's last-minute changes dressed up the name that the measure will get when it goes on the ballot. Originally dubbed the "Arizona Secure Elections Act,'' it will now be known as the "Safer Elections, Faster Results Act.''
There may be reasons that some people are afraid of the open-ended language that empowers the Legislature, currently controlled by Republicans, to eliminate early voting entirely.
The Arizona Republican Party filed suit three years ago asking that early voting be declared illegal, arguing that the only form of voting specifically authorized by the framers of the Arizona Constitution is in person and on Election Day. That argument was rejected by the state Court of Appeals.
Voters actually may have a different choice in November.
An initiative drive launched earlier this month seeks to go in the opposite direction, enacting a constitutional provision preserving the right to vote early as well as to drop off an early ballot on Election Day.
Backers -- the funders have yet to be identified -- have until July 2 to gather the 383,923 valid signatures to put that plan to voters.
