Updated: Opposition Mounts to AZ Voter Suppression Bill, Citizens’ Veto Referendum Launched

UPDATE, July 14, 2013

Not surprisingly, Governor Jan Brewer signed the Omnibus Voter Suppression Bill (HB2305). This legislation will:

• make it harder for people to vote,
• immediately knock as many as 1 million Arizonans off the Permanent Early Voter Lists (PEVL)– including deployed military,
• make it a crime for anyone to turn voter registration forms into the county recorder in behalf of someone else,
• dramatically increase the number of signatures required for Green Party and Libertarian Party candidates to get on the ballot,
• make it very difficult to get voter initiatives on the ballot,
• discriminate against Latino and Native American voters.

Fortunately, this bill doesn’t become law until 90 days after the end of the legislative session; this means this voter suppression bill can be stopped by the voters. Democrats, Greens, Libertarians, progressives, unionists, and others have joined together to gather 80,000+ signatures to stop the bill’s implementation and put it on the ballot in 2014.  At the Arizona Democratic Party’s summer meeting in Cottonwood this weekend, state committee members were given walk lists and directions on how to collect referendum signatures before the early September deadline.  Watch this blog for more information on how you can be involved in stopping Republican suppression of voting in Arizona.

Original Post Published on June 14, 2013: AZ Voter Suppression Bill Passes in Waning Hours of 2013 Session

In a late-night maneuver, the Arizona Senate reconsidered an “omnibus” voter suppression bill (HB2305). This bill had been defeated previously in the Senate, but last night under the cover of darkness, three Republicans switched their votes. HB2305 passed on a purely party-line vote with Republicans solidly standing on the side of voter suppression in Arizona.

HB2305, which previously passed the Arizona House and now goes to Governor Jan Brewer’s desk, makes voter initiatives and collecting signatures more difficult. The Arizona Legislature has long hated the initiative, referendum, and recall processes. After all, who do those voters think they are passing new legislation and recalling politicians?

HB2305 requires people who distribute petitions to pass background checks; requires complicated three-tiered collating of petitions; and requires notarizing of all petition sheets. This will make citizen initiatives more costly, more complicated, and more frustrating. If you screw up on the three-tiered collating (by county, by petition circulator, and by notary), the Secretary of State can throw out the petitions. (You can see where this is going, if Republicans retain control of the Secretary of State’s office.)

How does it feel to belong to a political party that routinely votes to starve children, deny medical care, inhibit voting, squash public education, promote discriminatory incarceration,  line the pockets of the rich, AND through all of that judge others with self righteous indignation? Who votes for these people?

We can still stop this. It’s time to call Governor Brewer’s office and demand a veto of this voter suppression bill.

The Honorable Janice K. Brewer
Arizona Governor
Executive Tower
1700 West Washington Street
Phoenix, AZ 85007

Telephone, Fax:

Phoenix Office: (602) 542-4331
Tucson Office: (520) 628-6580
Fax Number: (602) 542-1381

In-State Toll Free 1-800-253-0883 (outside Maricopa County only)

E-mail form: Contact the Governor