ACTION ALERT: Immediate: ARIZONA: Election Reform

From John Brakey AUDITAZ...

Friends of Election Integrity:

We fought hard for the manual audit to protect the integrity of our elections but we need a stronger law. SB1623 (PDF file) remedies some of the most blatant problems with the language of SB1557 from last session.

Senate Bill 1623 is on the AZ Senate Judiciary Agenda for Monday February 12, 2007, 1:30 PM. Support this bill. Make comments and state your position on the request to speak section of www.azleg.gov. You do not have to go to the hearing to state your support but you do need an account. You can set up an account at the State Capitol kiosks in both the House and the Senate buildings. If you had a previous account, it should still be active. There are about 25 bills on this agenda so it could be a long hearing. The hearing starts at 1:30 PM in Senate Hearing Room 1. There is free parking at Welsey Bolin Memorial Park on either the Washington or Jefferson side just east of 17th Avenue. You can avoid the construction by taking I-17 south to Jefferson or if you live East you can take I-10 east to I9th Avenue (map attached).

Be there if possible or contact members of the committee and ask them to support passage of the legislation. Senator Karen Johnson is the sponsor and she is on the committee. Both Republicans and Democrats need to be educated on this issue. Election Integrity is not a partisan issue. The Arizona Citizens for Election Reform is nonpartisan and supports SB1623.

If you do not like a portion of the bill, suggest that you would support it if amended but the manual audit being completed (not optional) and a minimum of four races counted on every ballot randomly chosen is our fundamental goal. The bill can be amended on the floor or in the AZ House.

SB1623 Highlights--

* The manual audit must be done regardless of whether the political parties provide enough hand counters.
* Requires four races be audited on every ballot randomly chosen and the presidential race when on the ballot.
* Specifies the criminal penalty of a class 3 felony instead of a class 4 felony for counterfeiting election results through electronic means or otherwise.
* Addresses the problem of early-ballot results being released before the election.

Contact info for the AZ Senate Judiciary Committee:

Chuck Gray, cgray@azleg.gov ,602-926-5288
Ron Gould, rgould@azleg.gov , 602-926-4138
Ken Cheuvront, kcheuvront@azleg.gov , 602-926-5325
Albert Hale, ahale@azleg.gov . 602-926-4323
Karen Johnson, kjohnson@azleg.gov . 602-926-3160
Richard Miranda, rmiranda@azleg.gov . 602-926-5911
Jim Waring, jwaring@azleg.gov ,602-926-4916


SB1623 (PDF)