Arizona’s Republican Legislature Fails on Election Integrity

Over the past month, I have talked to a lot of Republicans who are already celebrating what they see as the “red wave” victory in the midterms. They believe Democratic candidates are battling so many negatives in this election cycle, they can’t possibly win in any competitive contest.

Of course, these are the same people (and I’m including myself here) who felt extremely confident that President Trump was going to win in 2020. Recall that Trafalgar, who was the only pollster who called the 2016 election correctly, had Trump winning the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania, which was supposed to lead to in an electoral college landslide victory over Slow Joe Biden.

Except Trump lost every one of those states and the general election. It was a stunning and bitter defeat, and it took months to figure out why it happened. Ultimately, we discovered unscrupulous Democrats rigged the election, and after extensive investigation by respected political forensic analysts like Dinesh D’Souza, Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai and Ray Blehar, we learned how they did it.

Focusing on Fair and Honest Midterms

Two years have passed since the nation was shocked by the discovery that the 2020 election was rigged, and as the 2022 midterms arrive, it’s fair to wonder what these states have done to prevent dishonest Democrats from cheating in this election cycle.

In this article, let’s examine Arizona, where both the Senate (16-14), House of Representatives (31-29) and the governorship are all controlled by Republicans.

In 2022, Arizona has an excellent opportunity to elect Kari Lake and Blake Masters, two high-profile candidates running for governor and the Senate, respectively. They both embrace MAGA principles and are endorsed by President Trump. Kari Lake would replace RINO Governor Doug Ducey, and Blake Master would be replacing Biden rubber stamp, Mark Kelly.

Both offer measured, well-reasoned positions and policies that would help restore fiscal sanity, close the border, increase energy production and reduce violent crime. Yet, for all their obvious advantages in running against candidates who embrace the disastrous policies that have led us to the abyss, in the latest RCP composite polls, Masters trails Kelly by one point, and Lake leads Democrat Katie Hobbs, who presided over the 2020 rigged election as Secretary of State, by less than two points.

In a state that tolerated data dumps, mule drops, database erasures and impossible mail-in ballot return rates, does anyone doubt that militant Democrats would employ the same tactics they used in 2020 to ensure an outcome they envision in 2022?

Still, we shouldn’t have to worry, right? After all, Arizona’s Republican controlled legislature had two years to pass election integrity reforms that would prevent another election debacle. Considering the importance of election integrity as the bedrock of democracy, surely, they would have focused on election integrity as their number one priority in the 2020 session.

Great Optics for the Legislature but Few Results

In fact, after the smoke and mirrors “election audit” that was more about optics than actual investigation, lawmakers introduced at least 13 bills related to election integrity in the 55^th session of the legislature. Let’s briefly look at each of them to understand their intent and current status:

1. HB2023: Preserving ballot images and making them available to the public for examination. STATUS: Held in rules committee.
2. SB1054: Inspection, review and certification of voting and tabulating equipment. STATUS: Held awaiting committee of whole.
3. SB1027: Establishes Bureau of Elections within the Office of Governor to investigate election fraud. STATUS: Held in committee.
4. SB1028: Establishes specifications and standards for ballot paper: STATUS: Held in committee.
5. HB2041: Establishes specifications and standards for ballot paper: STATUS: Held in committee.
6. SB1008: Automatic recount if the difference between candidate vote totals is less than one half of one percent. STATUS: Signed into law.
7. SB1055: Establishes penalties for contractors who do not fulfill the terms of contracts related to an election. STATUS: Failed in Senate.
8. SB1056: Misplaced ballots and provisional ballots not included in the original tally are disqualified. STATUS: Failed in Senate
9. HB2771: Defines qualifications to vote, proof of citizenship, creates secure, automatic electronic voter registration, requires voting in an appropriate election district, proper voter registration and verification. STATUS: Held in rules committee
10. HB2743: Voters only allowed to vote by mail if they are out of state at the time of the election, are physically impaired or are in the military. STATUS: Held in committee.
11. HB2577: Unattended drop boxes are prohibited. STATUS: Held in committee
12. SB1609: Provides grounds for contesting an election and remedies for election misconduct and erroneous vote counts. STATUS: Failed in Senate
13. SB1411: Signatures on ballots must be verified within five days of discovery. STATUS: Signed into law.

Out of thirteen election integrity bills, the Republican legislature only passed two of the least impactful: a ballot signature verification bill and a recount bill.

Think about that for a minute. The Republicans in Arizona control the Senate, the House of Representatives and the governorship, and that’s the best they could do. In the face of irrefutable evidence from the Cyber Ninjas audit report that the EMS database was erased in Maricopa County, thus destroying any evidence of misconduct, the legislature still buried SB1054 in committee, which means nefarious operatives could still manipulate voting and tabulating equipment without consequences.

The Arizona legislature passed on preserving ballot images, passed on setting up an election fraud division, passed on establishing ballot media standards, passed on establishing penalties for contractors involved in election misconduct, passed on drop box monitoring and passed on reasonable absentee ballot restrictions. In other words, they avoided passing any meaningful legislation that might have prevented another rigged election debacle.

Change Results from Active Participation

Unfortunately, this should serve as another reminder that we can no longer afford to sit on the sidelines while the country deteriorates. How many Republican voters in Arizona even know the names of their state Senator and representatives? If we want meaningful change, the days of walking into the voting booth and simply choosing the person with the (R) next to their name are over. Voters need to invest the time and energy into learning exactly who these candidates for the state legislature are and what they stand for. We actually need to vote in the primaries, or we will continue to see candidates on the ballot that reflect the will of the Republican state party instead of the will of its constituents.

If either Blake Masters or Kari Lake should lose on Tuesday by a small margin, we’ll never be sure if the elections were legitimate because the Republican legislature did little to ensure their fairness and integrity.

In Arizona, the Republican controlled legislature failed to properly serve its constituency, but then again, Arizona voters have only themselves to thank.