Arizona counties cannot get state approval to begin the manual counting process.

Governor Katie Hobbs on Friday vetoed Rep. Gail Griffin’s proposal to allow officials in charge of elections to tally votes without using automated tallies. The governor said it was unacceptable.

“Manual ballot counting is arguably less accurate and time consuming than machine counting,” Hobbes wrote. “Arizona voters deserve to know their votes are being counted accurately and efficiently.”

A veto is unlikely to end the legal battle.

In creating the standard, Griffin argued that state law always allowed hand counting. She said her bill did nothing but “clarify existing legislation.”

But Griffin acknowledged working with fellow Republican Cochise County Registrar David Stevens to create the standard. Then, in the 2022 general election, two Republican overseers questioned the accuracy of machine counting and wanted all ballots to be counted by hand. was in Cochise County.

It ended only when a judge blocked the move. He said state law allows election officials to take a random 2% sample of all ballots, count them by hand, and compare the results to the machine tally.

But the matter is not over yet.

Earlier this month, the Mojave County Board of Supervisors voted to consider hand-counting the 2024 election.

This was with the support of Senate Majority Leader Sonny Borrelli (R-City of Lake Havasu). He told supervisors that electronic tally machines are easy to hack.

And Mr Borelli called it a “national security issue”, arguing that the state could not stop such hand counting.

That is not the position of Secretary of State Adrian Fontes. In a letter to the board, he said hand counting could increase the risk of error.

More importantly, Fontes said a full census would expose county officials to “significant legal risk, including criminal liability, including potential violations of state law.”

During a committee discussion on the issue, Senator Anna Hernandez said there are more fundamental reasons for voting against the bill. Phoenix Democrats said they could not support anything “promoted by those who promote conspiracy theories.”

Separately, Mr. Hobbes vetoed Republican Mesa Rep. Justin Heap’s proposal to give parents access to all materials the district uses to train teachers.

Mr. Heep showed his colleague a list of subjects for training sessions Mesa Unified School District teachers were required to attend. It included anti-racism, non-binary, unconscious bias, restorative justice and fairness.

All of these, he says, are issues where parental consent may not be obtained.

Rep. Judy Schweebert (D-Phoenix) asked what’s wrong with teachers learning about issues such as equity.

Mr. Heap said he was happy to coach on equality issues. But equity, he said, is different and deals with issues of fairness rather than equality.

“Who decides what is fair and what is unfair?” Heap asked. He said equity concerns things like whether some historically marginalized groups should get special treatment.

Heep also said the bill would be no different from existing laws that already give parents access to the curriculum used in the classroom.

In his veto message, Hobbes said his objections were more basic. Making these training materials available to the public, she said, would put the school at risk of violating copyright laws.

The governor also upheld Senator Anthony Kahn (R, Glendale)’s proposal to ban government agencies from refusing to contract with private companies unless they have or have adopted policies of environmental, social and governance standards. also refused.

“I do not believe it is in the best interests of Arizonas to tie the hands of the state’s procurement and investment professionals,” Hobbs wrote.

And she said that state treasurers who invest in things such as the purchase of company stock would use the voting rights attached to those stocks to endorse proposals that advance social, environmental, political, and other goals. It vetoed a similar proposal prohibiting it from doing so. Also, the state could not use investment funds to boycott companies involved in fossil fuel or nuclear energy in any way.

“Politicizing the decisions made by state investment professionals could undermine the state’s long-term financial health,” Hobbs wrote.

The governor has now vetoed 119 bills approved by the Republican-controlled Congress.