Grassroots organizers reached agreement with lawyers on Wednesday on the final text of a sweeping Voting Rights Initiative that will push back on decades of Voter Suppression, broaden the franchise and prevent the radical rightwing from stealing voting rights in the future. Meanwhile, Republicans in the Legislature went into a fever pitch proposing everything from fingerprinting voters to abolishing mail voting.
The Fair Voting Act will go to the printers on Monday with petitions available for signing next Friday. We have until July 7 to turn in 240,000 signatures to get the measure on the November 2022 ballot.
The grassroots effort led by Arizona Deserves Better is responsible for volunteers collecting 60,000 signatures. The larger Arizona Democracy Collaborative will use paid circulators to gather 200,000 additional signatures.
Our most immediate need is $20,000 to pay the printer so we can get the volunteers going. The full text of the 30-page law must be attached to the petitions. We will also need help with our growing legal bills. secure.actblue.com/...
The Initiative brings back the Permanent Early Voting List, or PEVL, the heart of mail voting in Arizona, and eliminates a rightwing law that purges the list. Other features include automatic voter registration for drivers, election day registration for new voters, more early voting, expanded polling places for Native American voters, more campaign funding for “Clean Election” candidates and cracks down on lobbyist gifts to legislators.
The new voting law will allow votes to be counted if they are postmarked on election day, and will allow the curing of ballots where signatures have been omitted for up to five days after election day. It will empower voters to give their ballots to neighbors to help get them turned in. It prohibits the Legislature from stealing Arizona’s Electoral Votes and prohibits any more fake Cyber Ninja-style “audits.”
An important provision declares Arizona’s voter registration and voter identification provisions to be “sufficient.” Since laws created through Arizona’s Initiative process have more authority than acts of the Legislature, the right-wing private-school, private-prison faction will be powerless to mess with voting rights.
If you would like to help with the petition drive, please sign up to volunteer at AZDeservesBetter.com secure.everyaction.com/... The Initiative was unanimously endorsed by the Arizona Democratic Party on Saturday. The coalition behind the group includes well-known organizations such as LUCHA, Mi Familia Vota, the League of Conservation Voters and many others.
A kickoff meeting for volunteers will be held Saturday.
Meanwhile, back at the state capital building, the crazy switched into overdrive. One proposed bill would eliminate early voting and mail voting. It would also give the Legislature ultimate authority to say who won elections. Our lawyers say we are not allowed to call this treason. We’re looking for a better word to describe a plot to overthrow America’s 250-year tradition of Liberty and Democracy.
Other bills would require universal fingerprinting, place identifying information on ballots and blatantly steal elections in other ways.
Much of this fear and loathing is directed at Native Americans, who turned out in record numbers to win Arizona for Biden and Sen. Mark Kelly. The rightwing knows who they want to decide Arizona’s future, and Native voters are just in their way.
We’ve undergone some setbacks. Now-censured Sen. Sinema (formerly D-AZ) scuttled national voting rights legislation. The Independent Redistricting Commission did not do us any favors. But with the state-level Voting Rights Initiative, we can do our part to save the sacred right to vote in our state. Please help. secure.actblue.com/...
Meanwhile, our friends at Stop Dark Money are working hard to reduce the influence of anonymous money in politics. Visit their website at StopDarkMoney.org. Stop Dark Money.com