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Courts Rule in Favor of Two Arizona Ballot Initiatives; No Word Yet on Voting Rights Measure [1]
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Date: 2022-08-18
Petitions in support of the Arizona Fair Elections Act being unloaded at the state Capital building to be delivered to the Secretary of State in July. A court decision on the petition campaign is expected soon.
Arizona Superior Court judges ruled in favor of two Arizona ballot initiatives on Wednesday, but there was no immediate word on a third measure which would protect voting rights.
The Outlaw Dirty Money initiative requires that political contributions be disclosed to their original source. Under current law, “social welfare” committees can take anonymous contributions and pass the money to political campaigns without disclosing the source.
Opponents of the measure complained that circulators did not show their apartment numbers on affidavits. The online form provided by the Secretary of State leaves no place to enter an apartment number. The judge said he would have more sympathy for the plaintiffs if they had evidence of being unable to reach a circulator.
The Healthcare Rising initiative was harassed by similar technical legal challenges. The judge in that case also was unmoved by a lack of apartment numbers for the circulators. Their measure protects against predatory debt collection practices, capping interest rates on medical debt and limiting what property can be seized.
The Arizona Fair Elections Act had its third and final day of trial on Wednesday, but no court decision has been announced. Fair Elections has the same judge as the Dirty Money case, Joseph Mikitish. There is an expectation that he will make similar rulings on similar issues presented in the two cases. The Fair Elections Act still faces signature challenges, the ruling from Judge Mikitish, and a probable appeal to the state Supreme Court.
If you would like to help us with the campaign, please donate at ActBlue
Supporters of the initiative filed 475,000 petition signatures, more than twice the number required.
All three initiatives are intended for the November ballot.
The cases are being held in Maricopa County Superior Court, the trial-level court in the state’s capital city of Phoenix. The Supreme court review is done on briefs only and needs to be completed by Friday Aug. 26 so ballots can be printed. Time is tight because mail ballots need to be distributed Oct. 12.
The Fair Elections Act expands automatic voter registration, allows for election-day registration and counts ballots postmarked by election day. It pushes back on several efforts by the Legislature at voter suppression.
It removes voter suppression from Arizona law, gives the state one of the best voting laws in the country and protects voting rights into the future.
The Fair Elections Act specifically prevents the Legislature from stealing electoral votes, as some attempted to do in the 2020 election. It prohibits turning over ballots and election materials to unauthorized people for “audits” held without judicial supervision under law.
If you would like to support our campaign financially, please give at ActBlue or write to me at Arizona Deserves Better, c/o Eric Kramer, 1910 Douglas Fir Dr., Pinetop, AZ 85935.
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