PHOENIX (AP) - A House committee has passed a measure that would block voter-outreach groups from collecting and dropping off early ballots as the state prepares for the 2016 election season.
The proposal would make it a felony for anyone but a family member, roommate, caregiver, postal worker or candidate to collect early ballots from another person in an act sometimes called “ballot harvesting.”
The House Elections Committee chaired by Ugenti-Rita passed the measure along party lines in a 4-2 vote Monday.
The outcome of the legislation could impact the state’s general and primary elections if the bill is signed into law and enacted before elections take place.
Advocates including Secretary of State Michelle Reagan say the measure is necessary to keep up with modern voting trends in a state that increasingly relies on early ballot voting, which makes up about 60 percent of all voting in the state.
“The law has not kept pace with how Arizona’s voting patterns have evolved in the last 20 years,” said State Elections Director Eric Spencer during the committee hearing Monday. “This bill restores the balance and makes it a little more difficult to cheat.”
The Secretary of State’s Office has no evidence of voter-outreach groups tampering with or tossing early ballots. Both Republicans and Democrats engage in early ballot collection efforts, though Democrats tend to collect more.
Democrats opposed the measure saying the bill attempts to solve a problem that doesn’t exist. Rep. Jonathan Larkin, D-Glendale, called it a “voter suppression bill.”
House Bill 2023 by Rep. Michelle Ugenti-Rita, R-Scottsdale, revives a key part of a major 2013 election law that was overturned after voters collected more than 146,000 signatures to halt the law.
Republicans have revived the legislation piecemeal since then. Last session Sen. Don Shooter, R-Yuma, passed a similar early ballot collection bill that nearly made it to the governor’s desk, but the Senate adjourned before the House had a chance to vote on the proposal.
At least 14 states restrict who can return a ballot and how ballots many they can collect, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. A person may collect as many as 10 ballots in states such as Colorado while Arizona and Texas have no limits on how many ballots a person can collect and return.
An American Civil Liberties Union official said state lawmakers are criminalizing efforts to encourage voting.
“There are existing criminal provisions that adequately protect the integrity of the vote,” said Will Gaona, ACLU policy director for the Arizona chapter.
Ugenti-Rita said her measure is not about finding voter fraud, but limiting misconduct by not letting one person be in control of another person’s ballot.
“It’s important to anyone who cares about maintaining or respecting the integrity of their vote,” she said. “It should be the responsibility of the voter to turn it in.”
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