The move follows arguably the most controversial state elections in decades.In fact there are still 3 active legal issues to the results reported by the loser.

Hobbes, who was Arizona’s top official as secretary of state, said those who control race “rely on clear and effective laws and procedures” to do their job.

“Improving Arizona’s election law requires cooperation among state and local election administrators, election security experts, and voting rights advocates,” the new governor said in an executive order. And she said the bipartisan, coordinated effort will identify solutions that “strengthen the accessibility and security of Arizona’s elections.”

Hobbes said he wanted the report by November 1st. That would give us time to prepare recommendations that could be approved by Congress in 2024 and, depending on how quickly lawmakers act, could be implemented for elections that year. be.

But deadlines also achieve another goal. Saying that changes should await the recommendations of the task force could give the governor an excuse to reject some of the changes already being considered by Republican lawmakers in this session.

The governor receives input from a variety of stakeholders, including Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes or his designee, and two county registrars nominated by Senate Speaker Warren Petersen of Gilbert and House Speaker Benn. To ensure representation, we have set up a panel with at least 11 members. Toma of Peoria, Republican.

Also, a later-appointed election security expert, two county-appointed election administrators, a member of a “vote advocacy group,” someone with a background in campaign finance law, and an understanding of election equipment and technology. It also includes people who are

Given the complaints that the machine that tallies the votes is essentially a “black box” and that there is no open source code that shows how to do the job exactly, the expertise of the last person is very important. may become. Also, the companies that make these devices are generally reluctant to share their software, considering it proprietary and confidential.

The same concerns lie behind calls to ban electronic ballot counting in favor of hand counting.

Amid concerns that counting 2.6 million votes, including dozens of separate constituencies, would be impractical, laws requiring it were at least partially ineffective.

And a lawsuit to force that change, filed by failed gubernatorial hopeful Kari Lake and losing secretary of state election Mark Finchem, has been dismissed from federal court. am.

One of its goals is to ensure “consistent, secure, and accessible election administration and voter registration practices statewide.”

it was just last month State Attorney General Election Recount.

Pinal county changed more between the initial count and the final tally than the other 14 counties combined. County officials blame the problem on human error.

Another is to make training available to election administrators, administrators and poll workers.

In Maricopa County, there were complaints that after some counters did not accept ballots, election officials did not inform voters what they could do to ensure their votes were tallied.

One option was to go to another polling place. But to do that, voters had to be informed that they had to “check out” the first site. Otherwise, the second site’s record will show that you have voted. It obviously didn’t happen everywhere.

One interest group not included in the task force falls into a group called “election deniers,” who are at the forefront of trying to overturn not just the 2022 election, but even the 2020 presidential election. increase. Hobbs spokeswoman Josselyn Berry said her boss didn’t think it was necessary.

“The list of committee members includes experts,” she said. “And those experts will undoubtedly recognize and speak out about policies and processes that need improvement.

And Berry said there was something else that Hobbes did and didn’t include.

“She’s already made it clear that she doesn’t want to give credit to election naysayers,” Berry said of her boss.

“We want this task force to be effective,” she continued. “So what’s the use of having a saboteur for that?”