Reporters must work 30 hours as audit volunteers to cover the election audit
By Jeremy Duda | Arizona Mirror
As the Arizona Senate prepared to begin its election audit on Friday, it was unclear whether Senate Republicans would permit journalists to cover the unprecedented event except under severe restrictions that would seriously limit their ability to do their jobs.
Senate President Karen Fann said Wednesday evening that her audit team was revising its media policy, which previously only permitted journalists into Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where the audit is taking place, if they signed up to work as volunteer observers and agreed to follow rules prohibiting them from taking photographs, using recording devices or even taking notes with pen and paper during their six-hour shifts.
The original plan called for journalists to commit to 30 hours of volunteering.
After Fann met with her audit team for about 90 minutes Wednesday, she wouldn’t say with certainty that the rule would be rescinded. She said the audit team was drafting a new policy and that she would have to see what they came up with.
