{"id":1625703,"date":"2022-08-29T13:17:38","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T17:17:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1625703"},"modified":"2022-08-29T13:17:44","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T17:17:44","slug":"arizona-supreme-court-smacks-down-democrats-election-takeover-ploy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/arizona-supreme-court-smacks-down-democrats-election-takeover-ploy\/","title":{"rendered":"Arizona Supreme Court Smacks Down Democrats\u2019 Election Takeover Ploy"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Farizona-supreme-court-smacks-down-democrats-election-takeover-ploy%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1625703&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Arizona Supreme Court struck down a proposed ballot initiative on Friday that, if successfully approved by voters, would have repealed several election-integrity laws passed by the Republican-controlled legislature. <\/p>\n<p>Titled <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.arizona.vote\/info\/assets\/33\/0\/BallotMeasures\/I-16-2022%20Arizonans%20for%20Free%20and%20Fair%20Elections.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Proposition 210<\/a>, the now-failed ballot initiative had the potential to completely overhaul Arizona\u2019s election laws, several of which the state legislature recently passed. As noted by <a href=\"https:\/\/tennesseestar.com\/2022\/02\/23\/initiative-modeled-after-federal-hr-1-arizonans-for-free-and-fair-elections-seeks-to-get-on-ballot\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Tennessee Star<\/a>, the 26-page proposal \u201cis very similar to the federal HR 1,\u201d the <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/05\/13\/democrats-scramble-to-find-support-for-partisan-power-grab-election-bill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">legislation<\/a> previously introduced by congressional Democrats that would have resulted in a federal takeover of elections. <\/p>\n<p>Among the proposed changes to Arizona election law were same-day voter registration, a repealing of \u201cArizona\u2019s ballot harvesting ban,\u201d and \u201cvoter registration with minimal identification, such as a pay stub.\u201d Other provisions in the initiative would have disqualified \u201celectors who don\u2019t choose the president selected by Arizona\u2019s presidential election,\u201d eliminated \u201cthe 30-day residency requirement in order to vote,\u201d and made it \u201charder to cancel voter registrations of inactive voters,\u201d among others.<\/p>\n<p>In 2021, the Arizona legislature <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/elections\/arizona-legislature-passes-law-purge-infrequent-mail-voters-n1267025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">passed<\/a> a law that \u201crequires the state to remove infrequent voters from the state\u2019s Permanent Early Voting List, turning it into an \u2018active\u2019 early voting list.\u201d GOP Gov. Doug Ducey also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/biden-sues-arizona-citizenship-elections\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">signed a bill<\/a> earlier this year mandating that voters show proof of citizenship in order to vote in federal elections.<\/p>\n<p>The latter has since been the subject of a lawsuit filed against Arizona by the Biden Department of Justice, which referred to the law as an \u201cunnecessary requirement\u201d that \u201cturns the clock back on progress\u201d and \u201cblock[s] eligible voters from the registration rolls for certain federal elections.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/politics\/supreme-court-to-have-final-say-on-arizona-voting-initiative\/ar-AA118SIH\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Associated Press (AP)<\/a>, the state Supreme Court\u2019s Friday decision \u201cupholds a lower court ruling issued hours earlier, in which Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Joseph Mikitish rejected thousands of signatures and said the initiative fell 1,458 signatures short of the 238,000 required to qualify for the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe judge\u2019s Friday ruling reversed his own decision from a day earlier after the Supreme Court asked him to explain how he concluded that the initiative had enough valid signatures to qualify,\u201d the AP report says. \u201cWhen the judge upheld the measure the day before, [Chief Justice Robert] Brutinel had refused to accept it, saying [the] court was unable to determine exactly how Mikitish came to his determination that backers had collected enough valid signatures for the measure to appear on November\u2019s ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In response to the high court\u2019s decision, backers of Proposition 210 have issued several outlandish statements on the matter, with the committee backing the initiative going as far as to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/politics\/supreme-court-to-have-final-say-on-arizona-voting-initiative\/ar-AA118SIH\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">claim<\/a> that certain \u201cpoliticians have been intentionally trying to attack the ballot measure process for over a decade to prevent voters from being able to make decisions about Arizona\u2019s future at the ballot box.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday\u2019s decision is a continuation of these attacks and reflects an increasingly extreme MAGA agenda,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n<p>Efforts to railroad election integrity efforts through state constitution-altering ballot initiatives are hardly exclusive to Arizona. In Michigan, efforts are underway to get an <a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Michigan_Right_to_Voting_Policies_Amendment_(2022)\">election law-changing proposal<\/a> on the ballot for the midterm election that would expand the use of ballot drop boxes and provide voters with the \u201cright\u201d to vote by absentee ballot, among several other changes.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Shawn Fleetwood is a Staff Writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He also serves as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" \/>    <\/p>\n<p>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\" class=\"btn btn-on-white\">Subscribe<\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Arizona Supreme Court struck down a proposed ballot initiative on Friday that, if successfully approved by voters, would have repealed several election-integrity laws passed by the Republican-controlled legislature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1625703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1625703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1625703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1625703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1625703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1625703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1625703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}