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UPDATE 08/22/2022: The AZ version of the Federalized take-over of elections, HR1, is on the verge of missing the signature cutoff to make the ballot. AZ Free Enterprise has successfully disqualified almost 100,000 signatures, leaving the initiative an estimated 15k short of qualifying with Pima County signature samples still out for verification.

Based on the previous validation rate from other counties, the initiative would, at present, miss qualifying for the General Election ballot. Both sides are appealing to the state Supreme Court to restore/disqualify signatures as the clock ticks down to the 8/25 deadline for counties to order ballots for the election.

MORE: https://kjzz.org/content/1803690/arizona-voting-rights-initiative-may-no-longer-qualify-november-ballot

The misnamed Arizonans for Free and Fair Elections Initiative has filed signatures to qualify for the Fall Ballot. According to Gina Swoboda, Executive Director of the Voter Reference Foundation, “If it passes on the Fall General Election ballot, the elections process in Arizona will be changed in profound ways, none for the better. This reads like an anti-Integrity grab bag of every bad idea that could not pass in the AZ Legislature from raising taxes on businesses small and large to eliminating Voter ID”.

It would:

  • Eliminate Proof of Citizenship to register and to vote
  • Raise taxes on every small business & corporation & direct additional taxpayer dollars to political campaigns of publicly funded candidates
  • Eliminate the requirement to show Government issued photo ID to vote
  • Prohibit routine voter list maintenance by election officials
  • Restrict routine voter list maintenance of the Early Voter List
  • Permit ballots to be mailed to voters who did not request them
  • Allows residents to vote in a county in which they do not reside
  • Eliminate Voter Registration residency requirement of 29 days
  • Require government agencies to automatically register persons to vote without their consent
  • Create a new government voter registration portal that allows registration with a signature only without an official government identification
  • Preclude all identification requirements for mail ballots other than signature verification
  • Allow late ballots to be counted if postmarked by 7:00PM election day and received within 5 business days after the election
  • Allow persons who are not the voter, member of voter’s family, or caretaker to collect and return mail ballots
  • Prohibit private citizens from challenging validity of signatures for initiatives & referendum
  • Reduce the amount of money a private citizen can contribute to a candidate
  • Allow Clean Elections to accept private grant funds and distribute to election offices without oversight
  • Restrict the Legislature’s Constitutional right to issue subpoenas in a contest or audit of an election
  • Permit incapacitated individuals under guardianship to vote

If this passes on the General Election ballot with more votes than the Voter ID Referendum, the provision requiring Voter ID will be canceled out by the provision in this measure that precludes Voter ID.

More to come on this as it moves through the filing process.