Sen. Sonny Borrelli, R-Lake Havasu City, on the floor of the Senate in 2020./ PHOTO BY HOWARD FISCHER/CAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES
By Julia Shumway | Arizona Capitol Times
Last-minute amendments to Arizona’s $12.8 billion budget codify election security concerns could pose trouble for the election officials required to carry out the new provisions from Trump supporters who say they believe the election was stolen and there is a deep bias against conservatives.
A set of amendments from Sen. Sonny Borrelli, R-Lake Havasu City, and Sen. Kelly Townsend, R-Mesa, would create new rules for watermarked ballots, set up a taskforce to investigate “algorithmic bias” on social media websites and allow the Legislature to hire someone to investigate voter rolls.
A third, from Senate President Karen Fann, R-Prescott, assigns a Senate committee to review the Senate’s ongoing audit of 2020 elections and recommend legislative action, up to and including calling the Legislature into special session to address any issues. That came as news to the committee’s ranking Democrat, Sen. Juan Mendez of Tempe.
The budget amendments, and accompanying election legislation moving through the House and Senate as a condition of Townsend’s vote, all respond to complaints from conservative voters and elected officials, and they didn’t include input from county officials who run elections.
