State Senate GOP revives bill that would eliminate nearly all early voting

PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona Senate committee has revived and advanced a wide-ranging election bill that would eliminate nearly all forms of early voting and require ballots to be counted by hand. Republicans passed the bill out of the Senate Government Committee in a 4-3 party-line vote, but it is almost certain to die in a vote of the full Senate or in the House. The House speaker made sure an identical bill didn’t go anywhere in his chamber earlier this year, when he assigned it to every House committee, making it basically impossible to jump through those hoops.

This bill, HB 2289, would ban early or absentee voting except for Arizonans who have a disability or won’t be in the state on Election Day. Under the measure, the voter would have to cast a ballot at a polling place, which can’t have more than 1,500 registered voters. Election workers would have to count the ballots by hand and the results would have to be released within 24 hours. That means no electronic tabulation machines, which are faster and more accurate than counting ballots by hand. Mask and vaccinate mandates would also be illegal for voters and election workers.

The measure is strongly supported by Republican lawmakers and activists who claim without evidence that the 2020 election was marred by widespread fraud. Democratic groups say the bill would suppress votes, particularly of people of color and those with low incomes.