Arizona's Liberal Governor Just Vetoed This Bill

I've already published a number of rants against states that count their votes excruciatingly slowly. There is no excuse for it. It draws out the process, casts doubt on the integrity of the results in too many people's eyes, and – this cannot be stressed enough – is absolutely and completely avoidable. As I detailed in one of the aforementioned rants, the state of Florida manages to tabulate virtually all of its millions and millions of ballots on election night, by midnight. It's one of the largest and most populous states in the country, spanning two time zones. It offers its citizens multiple voting options, including robust and secure early voting. There is no good reason why every state doesn't adopt the same system, or at least a similar one. There is truly no good reason why states would choose to remain basket cases of dysfunction and uncertainty for days or weeks on end, knowing that there is another, far better way.

I explicitly called out Arizona in the piece linked earlier. And its legislature, albeit belatedly, finally voted to make a change:

The Arizona Legislature on Thursday sent a bill designed to speed up election results to the desk of Gov. Katie Hobbs, who has indicated she would veto it... “As promised, the first bill being sent to the governor this year is an election integrity measure,” Senate President Warren Petersen said in a press release after his chamber passed SB1011/HB2703. “Recent polling shows most Arizona voters want us to take action to speed up vote counting. We are providing our citizens exactly what they’ve asked for.”... Chief among the provisions of the bill passed Thursday is a new deadline of 7 p.m. on the Friday before Election Day for dropping off early ballots at a voting location. It wouldn’t affect the deadline for early ballots returned by mail, which must reach election offices before the polls close at 7 p.m. on Election Day. The legislation is modeled, in part, after Florida’s voting system, which is known for producing some of the nation’s most complete election results soon after the polls close. Under current laws, voters can drop off early ballots in person until the polls close. The late early ballots can take up to a week or more to process because they need to go through signature verification before tabulation. As a result, it can take days for enough ballots to be counted to determine winners in close races.

Realizing that they were eliminating one mechanism for casting ballots (for a period of a few days, and for extremely good reason, as explained above), the bill also expands early voting for a handful of additional days as an offset, per the news package embedded above. This is all eminently reasonable. Democrats lined up against it, however, and now the liberal governor has vetoed the measure:

ELECTIONS BILL VETO@GovernorHobbs vetoes the "Make AZ Elections Like Florida" bill.

Her stated arguments:
-Changing the permanent early voting list (now AEVL) into a single cycle list.
-Schools as de facto polling places without consent.

She argues these provisions do… pic.twitter.com/OVCHpZq3wm
— The AZ - abc15 - Data Guru (@Garrett_Archer) February 18, 2025

Democratic opposition hinges on nonsense talking points about the bill making "voting harder." It's garbage. This bill does not make participation meaningfully harder. It tweaks a few elements of the ballot-casting and -counting process to put an end to the outrageous and indefensible delays that wheeze on for days. The other stated reasons (excuses, seems more like it) are also frivolous. Republicans rightly slammed the veto:

🚨Governor Hobbs Refuses to Improve Arizona Vote Tabulation, Vetoes Same-Day Election Results Bill

Full Press Release: https://t.co/s4zfeEdjEE pic.twitter.com/O8VpCZx5gF
— AZSenateRepublicans (@AZSenateGOP) February 18, 2025

It's not just partisan Republicans ripping the move:

Hobbs barely defeated a polarizing and flawed Republican candidate in 2022 (who also lost a Senate race), squeaking through by a fraction of a point. She herself was a terrible candidate, who refused to debate her opponent. Competent Republicans in Arizona should continue pushing this issue and highlighting how the governor is clinging to a failing status quo because she apparently prefers days of chaos and dysfunction over proven results and efficiency. She places partisanship over solutions, and her perceived political interests over the clear interests of the state. If she chooses to seek re-election, she'll be up next year. Arizona Republicans are also advancing legislation to require law enforcement to cooperate with ICE.