Arizona Republicans Advance Ban On Early Voting

February 17, 2024 Republicans, Trump cultists

Arizona Central reports:

House Bill 2876 would kill Arizona’s phenomenally popular, three-decade-old early voting program that is used by nearly 90% of voters. Henceforth, only those who are aged, infirm or out of state on Election Day would be able to cast an early ballot.

HB 2876, ending early voting and mandating a return to precinct polling, was approved Wednesday by the House Municipal Affairs and Oversight Committee on a party line 5-4 vote. It now goes to the House floor, where, as in the Senate, Republicans cling to a one-vote majority.

Arizona has had an early voting program for 32 years. For most of those 32 years, it benefited Republicans who successfully figured out early on that getting their voters to drop their ballots in the mail would boost GOP turnout and solidify their control of the state.

The Arizona Mirror reports:

House Bill 2876, sponsored by Buckeye Republican Rep. Michael Carbone [photo], would basically ban the state’s no-excuse early voting system, with exceptions only for the elderly, disabled and for people who must be out of their precinct on Election Day.

The bill, dubbed the “Free, Fair and Transparent Elections Act,” would also ban voting centers, a polling place model that Maricopa and Pima counties both use in which there are fewer voting locations, but anyone within the county can vote at any of them.

The proposal would also cut down the time for signature curing on early ballots to two days instead of five, and allow 12 days to canvass the votes following the election instead of 20.

Carbone, a freshman, holds the seat formerly held by GOP House Speaker Rusty Bowers, who was term-limited. In 2022, Bowers ran for the Arizona Senate, but lost in the face of attacks by the cult for having refused to overturn the result of the 2020 election.



Tags

© joemygod.com 2025