By Abe Kwok | Arizona Republic
(Editor’s note: Opinion pieces are published for discussion purposes only.)
Opinion: The Maricopa County recorder said he was trying to franchise voters worried by the coronavirus. If only he had sought out more counsel – and listened to the ones he did.
Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes’ gambit to change voting rules for Arizona’s Democratic presidential primary proved an epic fail.
That he didn’t see the result coming — or that he did, but plowed ahead anyway — illustrates a cavalier impulse for an elected official to exercise in a time of need.
We can say this even giving the recorder the benefit of the doubt, that the coronavirus pandemic has voters scared of showing up at the polls and that voting in-person is in need of an alternative.
Fontes had neither time nor law on his side
Fontes’ plan was to mail a ballot to registered Democrats who weren’t signed up for the Permanent Early Voting List and for them to fill it out and drop it off at the polling place on Tuesday.
