A bill would remove less frequent voters from the voting list anticipated in Arizona, while another seeks to add restrictions to mail-in ballots
Photo: Courtney Pedroza / Getty Images
Republican legislators from Arizona are proposing drastic changes to their voting-by-mail systems, a move that echoes the wave of advanced electoral restrictions in the legislatures controlled by the Republican Party in several states , after the electoral defeat of the former president Donald Trump , reported NBC News.
Republican lawmakers in Arizona have introduced at least 15 restrictive bills of the right to vote, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.
More than half of the proposals address voting for mail, with a particularly controversial bill that seeks to expel infrequent voters from the Permanent Early Voting List, or PEVL.
Arizona voters have been voting by mail for 30 years , and the Republican Party-led Legislature created the PEVL, which automatically mails ballots to the voters who have requested it, since 2007.
They denounce possible restrictions on the right to vote
“We see this as a total assault on electoral rights and democratic institutions in Arizona ”, told NBC News Emily Kirkland, executive director of advocacy group Progress Arizona, ar claiming that the same state legislators who advanced on voting restrictions, are the ones who had spread the lie by Trump on the theft of the presidential election. “This is part of a pattern.”
Progress Arizona is one of several lobbyists against legislation, and are using everything from billboards to T-shirts to mobilize against bills that they claim would make it harder for voters to , and in particular voters of color, register to vote and cast their votes by mail.
While Republicans control all three branches of state government, it is unclear whether these projects The bill may come to the signature of Governor Doug Ducey, who has championed the state’s vote-by-mail system in the past .
Democratic lawmakers, as well as leading advocates of civil and electoral rights, have protested against laws such as voter suppression in the state.
Senate Democrats are proud PEVL voters and stand against # SB 1485 PEVL purge bill and all attacks on voting rights this session #IHeartPEVL # AZLeg pic.twitter.com/GVYRc0fbnR
– Arizona Senate Democrats (@AZSenateDems) March 15, 2021
Meanwhile, voting by mail is an incredibly popular way to vote in Arizon a: According to the state secretary of state’s office, approximately the 80% of voters cast their ballots before the pandemic, by mail or in person. And in 2020 , that number increased to 88%.
