Prop. 144 on the Arizona ballot would require ID from mail voters every election and leave the details to lawmakers

Arizona voters who are filling out early ballots now will find Proposition 144 on the statewide list, a set of amendments to the Arizona Constitution that supporters call the "Fast Accurate Secure Transparent Election Results Act."

Its biggest change, according to reporting by the Arizona Mirror, would require people who vote by mail to provide state-issued identification each time they cast a ballot. The measure does not spell out what form that ID would take or how voters would submit it. The Legislature would write those rules.

How mail voting works now

Arizona voters show ID when they register and when they vote in person. Mail voters instead sign an affidavit on the green early ballot envelope stating that they are registered in that county and have not voted elsewhere, and a false statement can bring a perjury charge.

Voters in 2022 narrowly turned down Proposition 309, an earlier attempt to add ID requirements for early ballots.

Other provisions

Prop. 144 would also:

• Require every county to let voters bring their ID to a polling place and watch their ballot be tabulated, which backers say would cut down on the time spent verifying signatures on mail ballots dropped off at the last minute. Maricopa County offered that option in the July primary, and about 23,400 of more than 677,000 voters used it, the Mirror reported. Many counties do not have tabulators at every polling place.
• Bar foreign nationals from spending money to influence state elections, including through ballot measure committees.
• Write citizens-only registration and voting into the measure, rules that already exist in state law and the constitution.
• Set a new legal standard for challenges to election laws passed by the Legislature, requiring only that such laws be "rationally connected to a legitimate state interest."

What each side says

Greg Blackie of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, which supports the measure, said at an Oct. 1 Clean Elections debate that it would let voters tell the Legislature they want ID "regardless of how people vote," and that faster results would raise confidence among voters of every party.

Pressed on how mail voters would show ID, he offered three possibilities: writing a driver's license or early voting ID number on the ballot, scanning a QR code tied to an ID check, or calling an election center.

Randy Keating, who chairs the No on Prop. 144 campaign, argued at the same debate that the missing detail is deliberate and would create confusion that backers could later use to restrict mail voting.

Tom Collins, executive director of the Citizens Clean Elections Commission, said at a Sept. 22 Arizona State University event that he sees the measure as an effort to give the Legislature primacy over election issues and push courts to defer to it.

The legislation that became Prop. 144 was sponsored by state Rep. Alexander Kolodin of Scottsdale, who is the Republican nominee for secretary of state. Election Day is Nov. 3.

Sources

azmirror.com