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I’m at the AZ Senate & I’ll be live tweeting the vote on 2 of @MichelleUgenti’s voter suppression bills - #SB1046 & #SB1072. Your Senator has their laptop on the floor so keep emailing & @ them on social & ask them to vote NO. #VotingMattersAZ #ThingsThatMatterAZ 
Peruse this thread for a brief overview of the 2 bills at issue here.
Thank you to @SenQuezada29 for using his point of personal privilege to recognize us defenders of democracy. #VotingMattersAZ
Thank you to LD15’s Republican Senator, Heather Carter, for standing up for every citizen’s right to vote. #ProtectOurVote
Vote on #SB1046 about to begin. They’re discussing and voting on amendments.
Floor amendment: Special taxation districts would be exempt from the Senator’s nifty new rules. She says this amendment should pass bc these districts are “unique.” Amendment passes.
#SB1046 as amended being discussed and voted on. @seanbowie: My constituents like the flexibility of being able to drop their ballots off on Election Day. I don’t want to disenfranchise these voters.
Sen Bowie notes that the 2012 election took the same 20 days to certify as it did this past November. Why are we suddenly moving to change the rules when correctly tabulating results takes time? Bowie is a NO.
Sen. Ugenti-Rita believes this bill will further her “goal” of “reinforcing” voting by mail. Claims she’s making voting by mail more convenient by eliminating the convenience of being able to drop your ballot off at a polling place.
Sen Quezada: Won’t this bill confuse voters more by changing the rules? Ugenti-Rita: No it won’t because I said so and my bill makes sense.
Quezada: This bill will disenfranchise & confuse eligible voters. We should be encouraging every eligible citizen to vote, not make it harder for them to do so. This will take us backwards. Quezada will vote NO.
@Dalessandro4AZ: STRONGLY opposes this bill. It stifles innovation & increases the cost for counties. Yavapai Clunty saved over $30K in postage in 2018 election from ballots dropped off in drop boxes. This bill will eliminate these drop boxes.
@jamescita: “This bill will not speed up the donkey.” It’s already difficult for Native Americans living on reservations to vote. She has to drive at least 25 miles to get to a polling place. This bill will make it even harder. It will set my district back. Peshlakai is a NO.
Sen Sylvia Allen: No big surprise she supports Ugenti-Rita’s voter suppression measure. “Putting the personal responsibility on the voter to vote correctly.”
@SenOtondo dropping the knowledge of what it’s like to be a rural voter. Takes at least TEN days in some rural counties for mail to get from one place in the county to the other. This bill will make voting harder. Otondo will vote NO. @Indivisible_TO
@NavarreteAZ: Of course we want voters to vote and vote right away. But this bill isn’t the answer. It will only serve to suppress the vote. He will vote NO.
@Rios_Rebecca: All 15 County Recorders oppose this bill. Asks Ugenti-Rita whether she thought it was important to have Recorders’ input.
Ugenti-Rita: Repeating her line about how the legislature makes policy and recorders implement it so, basically, Recorders should sit down and shut up.
Rios: Why are we running this bill? Per Recorders, this policy change won’t result in votes being counted any faster. We may not like the results but that’s no reason to upend our current system and disenfranchise voters.
Rios: In Maricopa County alone, this bill could have the effect of increasing the number of people in line on Election Day by 100,000 people. Rios is a NO on the bill.
Sen David Farnsworth: He’s a yes. A consistent theme among Rs seems to be that voting is a privilege, not a right, and so making voting harder is good. 🤦🏻♀️
Sen Mesnard: Working to prop up Ugenti-Rita’s bill by reading our loud definitions of “suppress” & “disenfranchise” from dictionary.com. Doesn’t see how this bill could possibly cause people not to cast their ballots. 🙄🙄🙄
Mesnard: Stakeholders are the 3 million+ people who vote! We should give them what they want! (Narrator: And, per the legislative record, the public OPPOSES this bill by a ratio of 8:1.)
@mendezforaz: It’s our job to make voting better and easier. This bill doesn’t do that. This bill IS the new Jim Crowe. #SB1046 is a racist bill.
Ruh roh. Rs are mad Mendez is calling it like he sees it. Mendez receives a “warning.” Stay away from impugning other members. 🙄🙄🙄
Otondo: Voters aren’t losing faith in our elections. They’re losing faith in US, their elected representatives. And this bill will not restore that faith.
Ugenti-Rita closing comments: We all have the same goal - to improve the process & make sure people are encouraged to vote. This is about the integrity of the system. My bill will help alleviate constituent concerns. My bill is non-partisan.
Ugenti-Rita’s #SB1046 has PASSED. Farnsworth didn’t do a head count so I have no idea who voted how. Presumably all Ds votes no and all Rs except Heather Carter voted yes.
#SB1054, implementing a cure period. This one is actually a good one. Passes without objection. Ironically, Ugenti-Rita amended the bill after consulting with the Recorders she thinks shouldn’t have a say in policy making.
And the last voter suppression bill, #SB1072, has been held for another day. We’ll be back to fight another day.
UPDATE: #SB1046 hasn’t passed out of the Senate yet. It still needs to go through final read and final vote. My point is: CALL YOUR SENATOR NOW AND ASK THEN TO VOTE NO!
And with that, I have to get home to my kiddo. So, I’m going to pass the baton to @ProgressNowAZ, who will continue to update us throughout the day.
And we’ll be back again tomorrow in the Senate Judiciary Committee to hear the debate on ANOTHER Ugenti-Rita voter suppression bill, #SB1188. This bill will literally take the permanent out of the Permanent Early Voter List (aka mail in ballots). #VotingMattersAZ
