Arizona county recorders like Yuma’s Robyn Stallworth Pouquette want to be able to keep their early voter lists as clean and accurate as possible, reducing the use of time-chewing provisional ballots that delayed official statewide results of the 2012 general election by days. A bill working its way through the Arizona Legislature aims to do that. SB1261 gives the keepers of Arizona’s voter rolls the ability to remove voters from the permanent early voting list, or PEVL, if they haven’t used their early ballot in four years and don’t respond to a follow-up postcard query. Right now, the only way off the list is for a voter to make a request in writing.
Stallworth Pouquette said her fellow recorders agreed to the clean-up mechanism and that it’s an efficiency that is better for voters. Taking a voter off the PEVL would not cancel their voter registration – they could still vote in person.
“It’s strictly a records management problem” she said.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Michele Reagan (R-Scottsdale), was in Yuma this week meeting with Stallworth Pouquette about the legislation. Reagan, who is chair of the Senate elections committee, said that when making state laws, the Legislature has to remember that all 15 of Arizona’s counties are unique.
“We sometimes tend to think everything is Maricopa County, and it’s not,” she said.
Full Article: Bill may ease state voting process, arizona, ballots, voting – News – YumaSun.