RightCount Arizona Backs State Election Reforms

Senate Bill 1011 would help streamline election processes, expand early voting and expedite election returns

 In case you missed it, Matt Kenney, a Veteran advocate, Republican political consultant and lead of RightCount Arizona joined The Mike Broomhead Show (KTAR News) to announce RightCount’s support for SB1011, an election reform bill introduced by Senate President Warren Petersen.

Matt Kenney: “I want to share a little about my work this past election cycle. I’ve worked with a couple of different efforts, especially a group called RightCount, where we were helping to restore confidence in the early voting system by sharing policy changes that help build trust among our voters. My organizations spoke with hundreds of voters every single day and one of the biggest complaints that we ever hear and that drives the lack of confidence, is why it takes us so long to report our results when other states are already complete…so we at RightCount want to express our support for SB1011 which is being spearheaded by Senator Warren Petersen, which would move up that date that you would drop off the early mail-in ballots, set that deadline for Friday, which would alleviate so many of the problems and help restore confidence in our election system.”

Mike Broomhead: “What’s interesting about this also is, my frustration, I don’t know if this addresses this, maybe you know, I vote early because on Election Day we’re very busy. But I like to go to the polls. So I’m someone who likes to go to the polls, I show them ID, I prove who I am. They give me an early ballot. So even though I’ve verified that I’m the voter, it still isn’t counted, and it goes through that verification process. I know that adds to the time. Is that being addressed in this legislation. That if I go there early and prove who I am, they can tabulate my vote early without the verification process?”

Broomhead “I think that it addresses that, but it also allows for an extra amount of time for our volunteers and our election workers to process those early ballots because they have to go through a different process, they have to get those signatures verified and that often requires bipartisan oversight. This is very similar to Florida’s laws that moved it back to that date and allows more time for processing and allows us to get our results earlier.”

Broomhead: “If there are critics of this piece of legislation, because it sounds very common sense to me, what is the criticism?”

Kenney: “I think the criticism has been really weak. It has been that it limits access to voting. And when you dig into their argument and you push them on it, they’re saying ‘if you put a deadline on when you can return those ballots, that means there are some people who receive their ballot that are eligible voters who didn’t get to turn in their ballot because they missed the deadline. But I think that’s silly. We have deadlines on every single part of the elections process. It does not limit access in any other way than other way any other deadline restricts access to any other opportunity.”

To listen to the full interview from KTAR, click here.

Provisions of SB1011 include:

  • Early Ballot Submission Deadline: The bill mandates that early ballots must be returned on the Friday before Election Day no later than 7:00 p.m. Currently, voters can submit early ballots up to and including Election Day.
  • Extended Early Voting Period: SB1011 proposes adding two extra days to the early voting period to compensate for the earlier deadline, ensuring voters have ample opportunity to cast their ballots.
  • In-Person Early Voting: Voters who miss the Friday deadline can still vote in person at early voting locations on the Saturday and Monday before Election Day, provided they present valid identification and complete an early voting certificate.

RightCount is a 501(c)(3) entity that conducts research and educates fellow citizens around election integrity issues. To learn more about RightCount’s mission in Arizona and the steps it is taking to protect the integrity of the 2024 general election, please visit rightcount.org/states/Arizona.

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