December 4 – 10 2023

Cocoa in the Gardens with Santa - December 7, 2023 - 5:30 - 7:00 PM

Meet & Greet with US Senate Candidate Ruben Gallego - December 9, 2023 - 3:00 - 5:00 PM

Arizona Free Enterprise Club files lawsuit to stop use of drop boxes

From Kjzz news By Ignacio Ventura  Nov. 27, 2023:  "A lawsuit has been filed against Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes over the use of drop boxes for voting. The Arizona Free Enterprise Club, which advocates for additional restrictions on voting, and a voter filed the suit.
In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs said using the drop boxes “is an illegal method of voting under Arizona law.”
On PBS’s “Arizona Horizon,” Secretary Fontes said this is an effort to restrict voting rights."
Read more here.

Commentary by Bob Karp

I agree with Fontes' take on this, clearly voter suppression. It never stops from Republican-aligned groups. What are they afraid of? Losing an election because more people vote!  Everywhere we turn some organized group, often business interests in the state, are trying to keep people from voting.

 

 

Proposed federal legislation for mail-in ballot transparency

From NACo the National Association of Counties

11/13/23:  "Reps. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.), Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.) re-introduced the bipartisan Vote by Mail Tracking Act (H.R. 5658) to increase transparency of and confidence in mail-in ballots."

Here is What the Bill Would Do

Introduced in September 2023, this bipartisan legislation would require that mail-in ballot envelopes:
  • Contain a United States Postal Service (USPS) barcode;
  • Meet USPS design requirements and standards for machinable letters;
  • Include an Official Election mail logo
THE BILL DOES NOT require states to adopt certain mail-in or absentee ballot policies
Read more on the NAco website.

Adrian Fontes on preparations for voting in 2024

Arizona Secretary of State Addrian Fontes talks about preparations for voting in the 2024 election cycle. As a candidate I want to make sure that everyone has access to voting that is secure, fair and easy to do. We need to support our elections process and those that will work at the polls.  There is not a problem with "election integrity", we have had secure and accurate and fraud-free elections in Arizona for decades.  Don't let election deniers tell you a different story.