Arizona Republican legislators advanced several bills Monday that would restore key provisions of a sweeping election law that was repealed last year, saying they want to root out fraud and clarify existing state regulations. The proposals aim to allow donors to contribute more money to candidates, make it easier for judges to throw out signatures for technical errors on ballot measures and expand campaign signature requirements. Critics, including Democratic legislative leaders, say the efforts aim to make voting more difficult.
“We are going to speak out against every one of those voter-suppression efforts Republicans are trying to get through the Legislature,” Tucson Democrat Bruce Wheeler said.
Many of the proposals echo the election law that the Legislature repealed in 2014 after opponents collected more than 146,000 signatures in a move to put the measures before voters. At the time, Rep. Eddie Farnsworth, R-Gilbert, said he wouldn’t push a piecemeal effort to revive the laws, but couldn’t guarantee that others would not do so.
Full Article: Arizona Republican lawmakers advance election bills.