From Meghan McCain and Arizona Republic progressive columnist Laurie Roberts to conservative Arizona State Senator JD Mesnard, there is growing consensus that Arizona’s elections are a national embarrassment.
Arizona’s vote counting system is a national embarrassment.
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) November 8, 2024
It didn’t have to be this way says Mesnard as frustration mounts among Arizona voters
and candidates running for office over how long it’s taking to count votes in the Grand
Canyon State.
Mesnard points to the fact that “just one year after Governor Katie Hobbs, with little explanation, vetoed commonsense legislation from Senate Republicans to address this reoccurring problem.”
Mesnard says it is “a problem that has made Arizona the subject of ridicule across the country each election cycle and why we won’t know the outcome of many races for a week or more.”
In 2023, Mesnard sponsored, and the Arizona Legislature passed, SB1595 (early ballots; identification; tabulation), which would have resolved the biggest contributor to the delay in final election results while establishing equal treatment of those coming to the polls on or near election day. The bill required those who decide to hold on to their mailed ballots until after the Friday before election day to follow the same ID requirements as everyone else when dropping off their ballots. Not only would this legislation have allowed everyone coming to the polls on election day to be treated fairly, it also would have eliminated the need to validate signatures on hundreds of thousands of ballots, a lengthy process that delays election results for days or weeks.
“Once again, Arizona is a laughingstock across the country for how long it’s taking our state to determine winners and losers in this election, an election with national implications. This chaos, confusion, frustration, and controversy is nothing new for us and easily could have been avoided this year had the Governor not vetoed SB1595,” said Mesnard. “I’ve said it before, and I will say it again- ignoring this problem is a complete disservice to our voters who are taking their precious time to exercise their civic duty. It also continually puts us in the national spotlight, and not in a good way. We can’t just kick the can down the road every election cycle.”
Mesnard says his proposal “was commonsense, practical to implement, fair to the voters, and would have made a real difference in tackling the lengthy timeline voters and candidates—and the nation—continue to complain about. Senate Republicans will work again to send a bill like this to the Governor’s desk next session, and we hope she will do
the right thing by signing it this time so we can finally move past this ongoing embarrassment.”
Senate President Warren Petersen has vowed that on the first day of the legislative session Republicans will introduce legislation to restore election integrity reforms including those which would result in a more timely tally.
