Arizona State Senate
1700 W. Washington St.
Phoenix, AZ 85007
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 6, 2024
PHOENIX – In 2022, the Legislature passed SB 1008, which drastically increased the likelihood of automatic recounts, even in races separated by over 10,000 votes. As a result of how long it will take to conduct the expected increase in recounts, Arizona risks missing important federal deadlines: the deadline to mail ballots to military and overseas voters and the Safe Harbor and Presidential Electors Meeting deadlines by which the state must submit their presidential electors to Congress. After engaging in months of good faith negotiations, Republican legislators have chosen to introduce a highly partisan bill full of unpopular and unworkable proposals unrelated to the elections calendar.
Ranking Democrat on Senate Elections Committee, Senator Priya Sundareshan (LD18) stated, “Republicans created this problem, they have failed to take accountability, and now they expect the state to accept whatever fix they offer—even if it will clearly disenfranchise voters. Thankfully, any proposal to fix this issue will require a 2 / 3 vote in both chambers. Since Republicans backed away from good faith negotiations that had been occurring since September, the needed votes will require honest compromise. The Democratic caucus will not accept any proposal that hinders access to the ballot.”
“It is disappointing for Republicans to downplay the situation we are in, while simultaneously trying to capitalize on it for their own benefit,” Senator Anna Hernandez (LD24) added. “A truly common-sense solution here would be to address the root cause of this timeline discrepancy and undo the lowered recount threshold that Republicans pushed through in 2022. No surprise that Republicans rejected this way forward to appease a radical fringe of their base. We will not allow any “fix” through that creates unnecessary obstacles for Arizonans to vote in 2024.”
Senator Flavio Bravo (LD26) said, “The voters of Arizona did not send us to the Capitol to score political points at their expense. I applaud Representative Laura Terech for introducing a clean fix. I look forward to offering and supporting amendments that get us closer to the wishes of the voters. Democrats have already compromised, now it is time to protect Arizona voters from more policy rooted in conspiracy theories.”
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