The decaying extremist regime in Arizona is ripe for a grassroots push that will topple the authoritarian would-be dictators and leave the state a solid blue.
Gallup polls show the vast majority of Arizonans support expansions of voting, including automatic registration with drivers’ license applications and open registration on election day. Meanwhile, the majority in the Legislature is desperate to cling to power, enacting bills to block Native Americans and others from voting. A ridiculous attempt to cling to Good Ol’ Boy power is making the Game and Fish department a lead agency in voter registration. Apparently, their lawyers talked them out of giving the job to the NRA itself.
Gov. Doug Ducey is an example of an Arizona politician who is rapidly sinking into quicksand with a 35% approval rating. With his head halfway inserted into the former guy’s behind, Ducey is a metaphor for the untenable position of the entire extremist establishment. The whole right-wing apparatus is damned if they do, damned if they don’t. Republicans now cannot win primaries without support from a former failed leader, and cannot win general elections while held down by the Q-Anon ball and chain. Some Republicans are now ready to say the months-long audit by so-called CyberNinjas is completely stupid.
Now, is the time to strike. Sweep them all from power. Help stop voter suppression laws in Arizona (everyaction.com)
A first step is the grassroots effort to beat back their clumsy attempts to suppress voters. Arizonans built the Permanent Early Voting List system from scratch, working to get more than 80% of the state’s voters using mail ballots. Naturally, the extremists -- including at least two announced candidates for Secretary of State -- desperately want to screw up voting.
Another of their bills would defund elections, taking away the grants needed to buy tabulation machines, hire staff and put drop boxes in remote areas of Indian reservations. Of course, the Legislature will not properly fund elections, even rejecting $9 million in federal Help America Vote funding.
A third bill is really beyond the pale. It allows for coating ballots in invisible ink, some of which could be used by CyberNinjas or others to determine how individuals voted – in violation of the Arizona Constitution.
So we launch our counter-stroke against the extremists by petitioning to put these bills on the 2022 ballot. Not only will the state support the referendums overwhelmingly, but much of the stink will rub off on the authors and supporters of these bills, helping Arizona progressives to take control of the Legislature.
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/azdb?refcode=dk20210708
Since there are a number of petitions to sign, we want to have events in people’s houses, inviting progressives from the neighborhood to come and sign the bills. If you are interested in holding one of these open houses or making phone calls, please let us know by following this link . Help stop voter suppression laws in Arizona (everyaction.com)
But that is just the start. The education community is also doing a referendum of three bills and we will seek to get their bills at all of our open houses. The people passed a surtax on the ultra-wealthy who make more than a million dollars a year, and the Legislature responded by lowering the top tax rate in the state to 1% to keep the total, even with the surtax, very low for the uber rich. Another bad bill exempts income from S corporations from the surtax. Why? Because it saves many of their donors much of the money that voters gave to teachers.
We need to get petitions for these bills to our house parties. And we need to sweep the authors of this nonsense from the Legislature. Each of the 30 legislative districts in Arizona is being re-drawn by the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission. With the extremists on the outs, it will be very hard to draw safe districts for them. A lot of the worst legislators in the country will be defeated in Arizona’s 2022 elections.
All of this activity will help to unify activists and get ready for the 2022 election.
Finally, how will all of this affect Sinema? She is a little untouchable at the moment, with more than three years left on her term. You can call her office 10 million times and write 50 million letters, and it is all water off a duck’s back. But she didn’t get to where she is without being something of a politician. If she sees progressives sweep Arizona in 2022, you can bet she will be moving left. I don’t see any other way to influence her.
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/azdb?refcode=dk20210708