Request to Speak on Bad Voting Bills (still) being heard at the Arizona Legislature... ARGH!

Last week numerous ridiculous and harmful bills that would impede our ability to vote passed out of committee along party lines. Please, sign into the Request to Speak system to oppose the bad bills while they are still in committee. See the hearing times below.  

Also, oppose HB2498 COVID-19; vaccination requirements; prohibition that prohibits any government entity from requiring COVID vaccines. We are in the middle of a COVID surge! 

On the bright side...I included SB1270 state parks; lottery; heritage fund - the one good bill to support. 😀 It is being heard in two committees. 

Coming Up at the Arizona Legislature this Week.

Monday, January 31st

Senate Committee on Government at 2:00 PM 

• SB1055 election process; contractors and contracts (Townsend) makes contractors that provide election-related equipment or services and fail to perform under the terms of the contract liable for liquidated damages. OPPOSE.
• SB1056 misplaced ballots; invalidity; misdemeanor; damages (Townsend) says any misplaced ballots not included in the initial tally at a polling place to be invalid and makes misplacing a ballot a class 2 misdemeanor. This disenfranchises voters and will also make it impossible to get poll workers. OPPOSE
• SB1094 petition signatures; description; invalidity (Mesnard) requires the signer of the petition to read or listen to the initiative or referendum description printed on a petition. If they do not, their signature is void. This is outrageous and intended to merely disqualify signatures. What if I do not want to read it? What if I already read it at home or read the whole measure? OPPOSE 
• SCR1005 federal ballot voters; identification (Townsend) refers to the ballot a measure to require federal-only voters to show proof of citizenship at the polls, stricter than the voter ID requirements for all other voters. OPPOSE. 
• SCR1025 initiative; referendum; legislative districts; signatures (Leach) refers to the ballot a measure to require an initiative petition to be signed by 10 percent of the qualified electors for an initiative measure or 15 percent for a constitutional amendment in each Legislative District, rather than statewide. This would make it more cumbersome and expensive to do ballot measures. OPPOSE

Tuesday, February 1st

Senate Committee on Appropriations at 2:00 PM 

• SB1120 ballot fraud countermeasures; paper; ink (Borrelli: Barto, Fann, et al) is more holograms on ballots, among other requirements. OPPOSE.
• SB1270 state parks; lottery; heritage fund (Shope) appropriates $3 million annually from the State Lottery Fund to the Arizona State Parks Heritage Fund. We would like to see this bumped up to the $10 million that voters had approved originally. SUPPORT.

Wednesday, February 2nd

House Committee on Government &  Elections at 9:00 AM

• HB2236 voter registration; request required (Hoffman: Barton, Blackman, et al.) says no one can register someone to vote unless they have affirmatively said they want to register. This appears to be a preemptive strike against automatic voter registration. OPPOSE
• HB2241 early ballot drop off; identification (Hoffman: Barton, Blackman, et al.) requires additional ID for dropping off your early ballot. Apparently your signature is not enough for them  OPPOSE.
• HB2453 governmental entities; mask requirement; prohibition (Carter: Biasiucci, Blackman, et al.) prohibits government entities from requiring face masks for COVID. They require them for other purposes. I think they should say they are doing it for the flu or colds and do it anyway. Ridiculous!
• HB2498 COVID-19; vaccination requirements; prohibition (Hoffman: Barton, Blackman, et al.) prohibits any government entity from requiring COVID vaccines. Argh! OPPOSE 
• HCR2001 racial discrimination; public education (Kaiser: Bolick, Dunn, et al.) is a resolution that bans affirmative action and other programs to address the impacts of historic systemic racism. OPPOSE

Senate Committee on Appropriations at 2:00 PM 

• SB1120 ballot fraud countermeasures; paper; ink (Borrelli: Barto, Fann, et al) is more holograms on ballots, among other requirements. OPPOSE.
• SB1270 state parks; lottery; heritage fund (Shope) appropriates $3 million annually from the State Lottery Fund to the Arizona State Parks Heritage Fund. We would like to see this bumped up to the $10 million that voters had approved originally. SUPPORT

More Information:

Arizona Republicans Continue Voter Suppression and Election Subversion Efforts -January 25, 2022

Lawmakers in 47 states have introduced bills that would make it harder to vote -  CNN, April 3, 2021

DIRECTIONS FOR REQUEST TO SPEAK ACTIONS

Sign On to your Request to Speak account, click the blue Request to Speak button, click on New Request in the nav bar (left column), then simply cut and paste the bill number into Search Phrase (for example:SB1055). Push blue Add Request button, weigh in FOR or AGAINST, click No on Do you wish to speak? (in person), leave a short Comment, and click on SUBMIT. For another submission, click on the New Request link in the nav bar on the left and follow the directions above. 

If you had an account with RTS previously, it is still active. If you do not have an account, go ahead and set one up, but someone will have to help you activate it as it requires going to the Capitol. Reach out to Civic Engagement Beyond Voting.