Arizona Republican House speaker effectively dooms GOP bill to allow state legislature to reject election results
A Republican bill that would have overhauled elections in Arizona -- including giving the state legislature the power to reject election results -- proved to be too much even for state GOP leaders this week.
Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a Republican, quietly doomed House Bill 2596 on Tuesday with an unusual parliamentary maneuver.
The
speaker assigns all new bills to a committee for consideration before
they can have full House votes, a choice that often has a great effect
on a measure's chance of success. But on Tuesday, Bowers took the
unprecedented step of ordering all 12 House committees to consider the
elections bill, virtually ensuring it will never reach the floor.
The
bill's lead sponsor, Republican state Rep. John Fillmore, referred to
the move as a "12-committee lynching" in an interview with CNN affiliate KPHO/KTVK.
Bowers and Fillmore did not respond to CNN's request for comment Thursday.
Under the bill,
Arizona legislators would meet in a special session to review the
ballot tabulating process for primary and general elections and decide
whether to "accept or reject election results." If the legislature
rejected the results, "any qualified elector may file an action in the
Superior Court to request that a new election be held," the bill says.
The legislation would have made several significant changes to the battleground state's election procedures, such as mandating that voting occur only on Election Day and in person.
In
doing so, the bill would have eliminated early voting and the state's
widely used vote-by-mail program, which does not require an excuse to
vote absentee.
Fillmore's
proposal would have required voting by only paper ballots, banning
electronic machines for all voters except for those with disabilities.
The
bill would have also required that ballots be counted by hand, instead
of using electronic equipment to tabulate election results -- and
returns completed within 24 hours after polls close.
Two
senators, including the Senate president pro tempore, Vince Leach, and a
dozen other state Republican House lawmakers had signed on as sponsors
to the bill.
Bowers told Capitol Media Services
that there is no way the bill will secure approval from each House
committee and that the provision allowing state lawmakers to reject
election results is unacceptable.
"We gave the authority to the people," he told the outlet.
Bowers
also objected to the proposal to hand-count all ballots, according to
the outlet, telling Capitol Media Services that "there's individual
elements (of the bill) that harm accuracy, speed and dependability of a
vote," adding: "And if I can stop it, I'm not going to let that
happen.''
Fillmore had previously told CNN that he's trying to "ensure the integrity of the voting process."
He argued that lawmakers should have the authority as "representatives of the people" to review the vote count.
"If
there's a problem, we're not overturning anything. We're just trying to
put the skids on it and say, 'This has to be adjudicated,' " he said.
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