Doug Ducey – Democracy Watch

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed a law today that limits the distribution of mail ballots using a popular early voting list.

According to the New York Times:

The legislation will remove voters from the state’s Permanent Early Voting List, which automatically sends some people ballots for each election, if they do not cast a ballot at least once every two years.
The vote-by-mail system is widely popular in Arizona, used by Republicans, Democrats and independents. The overwhelming majority of voters in the state cast their ballots by mail, with nearly 90 percent doing so last year amid the coronavirus pandemic, and nearly 75 percent of all voters are on the early voting list. Under the new law, the list will be called the Active Early Voting List.
The State Senate voted along party lines to approve the bill, and Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, surprised many observers by signing the legislation just hours later.
The bill may be only the first in a series of voting restrictions to be enacted in Arizona; another making its way through the Legislature would require voters on the early voting list to verify their signatures with an additional form of identification.

It’s estimated that 100,000 to 200,000 voters could get purged from the early voting list as a result of the new law. That will likely impact the state’s minority population the most, particularly the state’s Latinos.

Over the past decade, Arizona has transformed into a critical swing state. President Biden won the state in 2020, the first Democrat to do so since Bill Clinton. Democrats also hold both of the state’s Senate seats, which they have won in the past two election cycles.

As recently as 2018, both seats were Republican. But as suburban voters fled the GOP in recent years – and Trump essentially forced former senator Jeff Flake into retirement – Arizona has become a prime battleground.

However, Biden only won the state by 10,457. So if the estimate of voters being removed from the early voting list is even remotely accurate, it could easily prove decisive in upcoming elections.

As for the governor, you may recall that Trump pressured Ducey to refuse to certify Joe Biden as the state’s winner last year. At the time, Trump said that Ducey “betrayed the people of Arizona.”

Although Ducey ultimately did his job and certified the election results, his failure to veto this bill harms Arizona’s voters and undermines democracy at a time when his party continues to perpetuate the Big Lie and push voter suppression bills nationwide.

Image Credit: Gage Skidmore, Flickr

The state of Arizona certified President-elect Joe Biden’s win on Monday. Typically a formality, the certification process has gained attention as President Trump levies false allegations and attempts to overturn election results in states that he lost.

According to CNN:

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, certified the election results Monday morning, saying the elections process was the most secure in recent history, “despite unfounded claims to the contrary.” The state’s Gov. Doug Ducey and Attorney General Mark Brnovich, along with Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Brutinel, witnessed the certification, as required by state law. These three officials are Republicans.

Joe Biden won Arizona with a 10,457 vote margin, according to the Arizona Secretary of State’s office. This is the first time that a Democratic presidential candidate has won Arizona since 1996.

The traditionally Republican state became a top target of Democrats after the party won a Senate seat in 2018. After Senator-elect Mark Kelly’s victory this year, Democrats now hold both Senate seats in Arizona.

Trump attacked Arizona’s incumbent Republican governor, Doug Ducey, who signed the certification. Trump alleged that Ducey “betrayed the people of Arizona.”

According to the Arizona Republic, Ducey defended the integrity of the election and responded to the outgoing president’s tirade:

Here’s what the law says. It requires the Secretary of State, in the presence of the Governor and the Attorney General, to canvass the election on the fourth Monday following the general election. That was today. This can ONLY be delayed if counties DECLINE to certify their results. ALL 15 counties in Arizona — counties run by both parties — certified their results. The canvass of the election triggers a 5-day window for any elector to bring a credible challenge to the election results in court. If you want to contest the results, now is the time. Bring your challenges. That’s the law. I’ve sworn an oath to uphold it, and I take my responsibility seriously.

Meanwhile, Attorney General William Barr – a Trump appointee known for his fierce loyalty to the president – admitted that the election results were legitimate.

“To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election,” Barr told the Associated Press.

Last month, in an unusual directive, Barr ordered U.S. attorneys to launch federal investigations into voter fraud. The order circumvented longstanding Department of Justice precedent that prohibited launching investigations before states certified election results. The move prompted the DOJ’s top election crimes prosecutor to resign in protest.