Rep. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, speaks in support of the Arizonans for Voter ID Act during a press conference outside the Arizona Senate on Aug. 17, 2021. /Photo by Jeremy Duda | Arizona Mirror.
By Mary Jo Pitzlc| Arizona Republic
Supporters of tighter voter ID requirements launched a ballot measure campaign Tuesday at a chaotic Capitol news conference disrupted by agitators.
The campaign seeks voter approval for an initiative that would require voters to show official ID when voting by mail, returning a spouse’s ballot or voting early. But protestors who want to abolish all forms of early voting tried to hijack the gathering, which was organized by Republican lawmakers, the Arizona Free Enterprise Club and other backers of the Arizonans for Voter ID initiative.
Initiative sponsors must gather the signatures of 237,645 registered voters by July 7 to put the matter on the 2022 ballot.
Early-vote list law challenged
This latest measure to tighten Arizona’s voting laws comes the same day as a coalition of groups focused on racial and social justice filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court challenging two election bills lawmakers approved earlier this year.
The groups claim discrimination motivated a bill that would remove people from the early-voting list, as well as one that would give a voter who forgot to sign his early ballot a tight window in which to correct the omission.
“(T)he Arizona Legislature enacted the Voter Purge Law and the Cure Period Law, which specifically target voting methods that voters of color used in increasing numbers in the most recent election to exercise their right to vote, for the purpose of reducing the number of citizens of color who vote,” the suit alleges, in asking the court to strike down the laws.
It was filed on behalf of the Arizona Coalition for Change, Living United for Change Arizona, Mi Familia Vota and the League of Conservation Voters, known as Chispa. They are asking a federal judge to declare the two laws unconstitutional and to block them from taking effort.
