The Arizona House of Representatives passed a resolution to “restore clear, enforceable election standards and put Arizona voters back in charge of their elections.”

In a vote along party lines, the legislative chamber passed House Concurrent Resolution 2001.

“The measure reflects election administration standards seen in states like Florida, where elections are run efficiently, results are known quickly, and the rules are clear and consistently enforced,” Arizona House Republicans said in a release.

“HCR 2001 adds a new section to the Arizona Constitution to establish uniform, statewide election rules. In several areas, the House adopted language advanced by the Senate to ensure consistency and durability, while holding firm on core election safeguards—chief among them, voter identification requirements,” it continued.

According to the release, the Arizona Secure Elections Act will:

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  • Limit voting to United States citizens, ensuring only eligible voters participate in Arizona elections.
  • Require government-issued identification to vote, with acceptable ID provided free of charge as prescribed by law.
  • Ban foreign money from Arizona elections, prohibiting contributions from foreign individuals.
  • End early voting at 7:00 p.m. on the Friday before the general election, establishing a clear, enforceable deadline.
  • Prohibit ballots from being cast or accepted after polls close on Election Day, while allowing voters already in line at closing time to vote.
  • Guarantee the right to vote in person on Election Day at conveniently located polling places.
  • Condition mail-in voting on proof of citizenship and an affirmative ballot request before each biennial general election.

“HCR 2001 now heads to the Arizona Senate. If approved there, the measure will be placed on the next general-election ballot for voters to decide,” the release stated.

“The Arizona Secure Elections ballot referral passed the AZ House today in a party-line vote. AZ House Republicans are not willing to compromise on what the people demand – voter ID and address confirmation to ensure that mail-in ballots are securely delivered to the correct recipient,” state Rep. Alexander Kolodin said.

“We urge our Senate colleagues to quickly take up the measure and send this question to the people to decide!” he added.

“Arizonans are done with excuses, delays, and chaos in our elections,” said Kolodin.

“Elections should be decided by citizens—not by disorder and not by foreign money. HCR 2001 puts clear rules in the Constitution: citizens vote, voters show ID, foreign money stays out, ballots are counted on time, and Election Day means Election Day. Voter ID is non-negotiable. The House delivered on that principle today,” he added.

Arizona Mirror shared further:

Rep. Alexander Kolodin, R-Scottsdale, loudly and scathingly took Senate Republicans to task on Monday before the state House of Representatives voted along party lines to pass his House Concurrent Resolution 2001, which would make it much harder to vote by mail in the Grand Canyon State.

“For two years, certain Republicans in the Senate have played a game of cat-and-mouse in bad faith, requesting an ever-changing list of demands and begging us to chase the ball,” Kolodin said on the House floor. “Today, this body says, ‘No more.’ The House will deliver for the people of Arizona, and if recalcitrant members of the majority in the Senate do not wish to do so, then let them stand up and let their votes be counted.”

Kim Quintero, a spokeswoman for the Senate Republican Caucus, told the Arizona Mirror that the Republican leaders in the Senate did not see Kolodin’s comments. She declined to comment on the disagreement between the chambers.

A member of the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus, Kolodin has been pushing to make the state’s elections more like Florida’s for more than a year now, claiming that an “overwhelming” majority of voters are willing to trade convenience — specifically by making it more difficult for people to vote by mail — for faster results. But where the evidence supporting that claim came from remains a mystery, since Kolodin has repeatedly refused to share not just the poll he’s citing, but even what entity conducted the poll.

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Roughly 70% of Arizona voters in any given election cast early ballots, and independent polling does not back up Kolodin’s claims that voters want to cut off early ballot drop-offs in exchange for faster results.

 

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