By VoteBeat
In Arizona, where distrust in elections runs high, many people agree that a manual check of election results could help boost confidence. And state law requires counties to do such audits.
Yet they aren’t always happening.
That’s because state law has strict conditions on who appoints the workers, who participates, and when it happens. If those conditions can’t be met, the elections director cancels the audit.
Lawmakers have tried to change state law before to make sure the audits — which examine votes cast on a certain percentage of ballots in a set number of races — actually happen in each county. This year, they are trying again.
Gov. Katie Hobbs signed a bill last month, House Bill 2129, that tweaks a provision in the law to try to ensure that counties have enough workers for the audit. It was a rare example of Hobbs, a Democrat, signing an election related bill from the Republican-led Legislature, rather than offering a swift veto. The bill was supported by the Secretary of State’s Office and included other small changes to election law.
