By Ray Stern | Arizona Republic
Two Republican state senators, who are skeptical about claims of voting fraud in 2020, stymied the passage of seven bills this week in the first big test for controversial election-related measures at the Arizona Capitol.
The bills’ failure suggests that few of the dozens of conspiracy-driven election proposals still wending their way through the Legislature are likely to make it to the governor’s desk. House and Senate Republicans concerned about election security after Trump’s loss submitted more than 100`the start of this year’s session.
Sens. Paul Boyer, R-Glendale, and Michelle Ugenti-Rita, R-Scottsdale, who were critical of the Senate’s audit of the 2020 election in Maricopa County, provided the key “no” votes on the failed bills.
One of Arizona’s election conspiracy champions, Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, also helped shoot down one bill, possibly in response to the censure against her by Democrats and fellow Republicans — including Senate President Karen Fann — earlier this month.
Arizona state Sen. Paul Boyer looks on the floor of the Arizona Senate chambers during the presentation of the report on the election audit in Phoenix on Sept. 24, Boyer said that some bills are plain “bad,” some are completely unworkable, some are at odds with similar bills and others would be “a waste of resources.”
He and Ugenti-Rita faced scorn from members of their own party and from election deniers in Arizona and elsewhere for failing to support t ` he audit last year. Boyer decided not to run for a third term as a senator after receiving intense criticism for voting against holding the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in contempt of a Senate subpoena regarding the 2020 election. He also had accused Fann of not dealing with him “fairly.”
