washington dc — On Thursday, May 18, Arizona Attorney General Chris Mays (Democrat) retracted a prior opinion written by his predecessor, former Attorney General Mark Brunovich (Republican), to allow counties to conduct county audits. bottom.
In a statement released Thursday, Mays said Brnovic had “misunderstood the governing law,” saying: The opinion concludes that Arizona law “does not give counties the discretion to conduct 100% manual counting of early voting.”
Mays’ opinion is clear. Arizona law does not allow counties, at their own discretion, to conduct count audits or count counts for all early mail ballots. This opinion stands in stark contrast to recent actions by Republican-led Congress that continue to fuel distrust of electronic voting machines and their use in states.
A few days later, on May 22, Arizona Senate Majority Leader Sonny Borelli (Republican) sent a letter to all county oversight boards stating that electronic voting machines would become the standard for non-binding resolutions. Said it cannot be used unless complied with. Resolution 1037. The letter invokes radical independent legislative theory to support the power of legislatures to enforce resolutions that are not laws. The letter appears to be an attempt to circumvent Governor Katie Hobbs’ veto of Senate Bill 1074, which would effectively ban electronic vote tallying machines by imposing onerous restrictions.
Borrelli’s letter states that Congress passed SCR 1037, stating, “No electronic voting system in Arizona may be used as the primary method of conducting, counting, tallying, or verifying federal elections, provided that the system Federal elections should not be held unless the following requirements are met:” SCR1037”
SCR 1037 stipulates that all voting machines must meet several criteria, including: “All components are designed, manufactured, integrated and assembled in the USA from trusted suppliers[.]All Arizona voting machines are assembled in the United States, but it is not possible to manufacture all components domestically alone, according to the Arizona County Association executive director.
In addition to being impractical, SCR 1037 is not law and therefore unenforceable. Nevertheless, Mr. Borelli insists that Congress must exercise its “total powers.”
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (Democrat) in response to Borrelli’s remarks write: “Concurrent Senate Resolution 1037, which expresses its intention to limit the use of certain electronic voting machines, is non-binding and unenforceable,” Fontes also explained.[e]Cleaning equipment must be certified by federal and state governments according to specific requirements outlined in federal and state laws. This certification process is also in place in Arizona, and all applicable election equipment used in Arizona is certified. If these requirements or the certification process were to change, a regular bill would have to pass through Congress and be signed by the governor, but that is not the case with this non-binding resolution. ”
During the 2022 midterm elections, Arizona became a hotbed of election denial and conspiracy theories, especially related to electronic voting machines. Several lawsuits were filed over counties’ attempts to manually count ballots and their refusal to certify the results, particularly in rural Republican-led counties. While Mays’ opinion sends a clear message about when hand counting will be allowed, it’s clear that Arizona Republicans intend to continue to sow questions about the use of electronic voting machines.
Read Attorney General Mays’ opinion on move counting here.