A proposal by Republican Chandler Liz Harris says anyone who wants to vote must go to a polling place. According to HB 2229, the only exceptions are persons with physical disabilities or military personnel abroad.

But that’s just part of her agenda.

Harris is also a sponsor of HB 2232. Not only does it eliminate early voting, but it requires all votes to be hand-counted.

And her HB 2233 seeks to expand the grounds anyone can sue to overturn an election result, empowering them and their allies to inspect every ballot. Current law only allows for the review of randomly drawn samples.

But what can have the broadest impact is requiring people to actually go to the polls and vote in person.

In recent elections, more than 80% of the nearly 2.6 million voters chose to take advantage of a 1991 law that allows anyone to request early voting. But Harris said it wasn’t right.

She said an audit of the 2020 elections ordered by then-Senator Karen Huang provided access to both ballot envelopes and each person’s voter registration card.

“Their discord rate is 12%, which is a solid discord rate,” Harris claimed. She said people could “see it in person” if they signed a non-disclosure agreement.

Harris, who lost out on running for Congress in 2020 before winning a seat in the House this year, continues to argue that the gubernatorial race was stolen from her, even if it was a matter of Donald Trump losing that year. Nor is Lake’s problem. She said the problem has existed since the law was passed 30 years ago.

So why would voters and lawmakers agree to scrap a program that has proven so popular? He said it was important to convince the faction.

“Their vote is being canceled because another vote is being entered into the system,” she told Capitol Media Services. rice field.

Similar allegations were made in lawsuits challenging both the 2020 and 2022 elections. However, the challenger failed each time he tried to convince the judge that the law was being broken.

Harris’ legislation rests on the legal theory that the only form of voting specifically permitted by the Arizona Constitution is Election Day, where you vote in person. And she takes her hat off to the “secret ballot” requirement.

“Secret ballot elections are elections that fully protect voters from the possibility of others finding out how they voted, including family, friends and colleagues,” Harris said in the bill. she said.

Mr Harris said in HB 2229, “The head of the household should either have the whole household vote together at the kitchen table or the adult children should vote on the ballot because the head of the household lives in their own home. You can ask for permission,” he said. .

You can’t even buy someone’s votes with in-person voting, Harris said. Because the person who gave the money has no way of knowing how others were rewarded or filled out their own ballots inside the voting booth. I actually marked the ballot.

“This physically protected area is a polling place with a privacy curtain and is inside a manned polling place. Ballots are strictly controlled within the polling place and there is no movement of ballots,” her law said. I’m here. “The ballots are voted on the spot, folded and placed in the ballot box.”

If the discussion sounds familiar, it should.

they are closely Similar allegations made last year by attorney Alexander Korodin In a lawsuit filed by the Arizona Republican Party. And he, too, invoked the constitutional right to secret ballots to abolish early voting.

Mojave County Superior Court Judge Lee Jantzen conceded that Collodin set an example of a “villain” violating the laws dealing with early voting.

This includes the Yuma County instance where women pleaded guilty Collect other people’s early votes and possibly mark how they vote. But the judge said that did not make the system unconstitutional. October 2022, Collected Guillermina Fuentes four rounds of early voting in the 2020 primaries, sentenced to 30 days in prison and 2 years of probation.

“Furthermore, they do not exhibit a pattern of behavior so egregious as to undermine the entire system of no excuse mail-in ballots provided by the Arizona Legislature,” he wrote. It exists within the statute.”

Collodin, who was elected to state legislature this year alongside Harris, has filed a lawsuit in the Court of Appeals, heard arguments last month, and has yet to issue an opinion.

Based on her belief that previous elections were stolen, Harris isn’t just proposing legislation to change voting laws.

Just days after the election, Harris not only called for the November 8 election to be overturned, but also defended her public position by stating: Possibility of fraudulent elections. “

Republicans hold a narrow 31-29 lead in the House, but her refusal to endorse may not matter.

Measures approved strictly on party line are likely to be rejected by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs. plug.