Legislative District (LD) 3 Republicans passed a resolution unanimously on November 30 urging the Arizona Legislature to change the procedures governing the presidential election to allow the body to administer the 2024 general election directly instead of state government. The Republicans said they believe this would allow the legislature to implement additional election integrity measures such as one-day voting and hand-counted ballots. The Maricopa County Republican Committee (MCRC) previously called for the Arizona Republican Party to administer the presidential preference election on August 26.
The resolution stated that the Arizona Legislature should “use their U.S. Constitutionally granted power under Article 2, Section 1, Clause 2 (State Legislatures have complete authority over the manner of a United States Presidential election) to provide the citizens of Arizona a separate Presidential only election conforming with Arizona Constitution, Article 7, Section11 (election day only vote), commonsense election terms such as voting by precinct, requiring voter ID, paper ballots, hand count with no mail-in voting, no machines, reporting by precinct and clean, updated and verified voter rolls. Again, this can be done without the need of Governor Hobbs approval or signature passed.”
The Arizona Libertarian Party holds its own presidential primaries each year, opting out of the primary run by the secretary of state. It is a far smaller party and the elections are usually conducted by mail.
Several states hold caucuses for their presidential preference elections, which the political parties run. The Missouri Democratic Party is conducting its own next year, while the Missouri Republican Party is conducting caucuses in each individual county. The Missouri Democrats estimate their election will cost them $250,000 to $475,000 to administer. Iowa, Nevada, and Wyoming also hold caucuses.
The Arizona Republican Party rejected the proposal from the MCRC to administer the presidential preference election, with AZGOP Chair Jeff DeWit stating that it would be extremely costly. “Many Republicans have questioned the MCRC’s rationale for wanting to allocate over ten million dollars to conduct the presidential primary independently, instead of investing that money into winning the general election,” he told AZ Central.
According to the AZ Mirror, MCRC Chair Craig Berland estimated the cost to be significantly lower, around $1 million.
DeWit sent a letter to GOP leadership that expressed his concern that the move might invite unwanted lawsuits, including from the federal government. “Upon detailed consultation with our Legal Counsel, it is now evident that acting on this resolution would breach our bylaws, placing the AZGOP at risk of countless legal complications,” the letter said. “The rushed resolution was proven to be problematic and an invitation for entities such as the Department of Justice to intervene in our election.”
With Democrat Katie Hobbs as governor, Republicans have been unable to pass any election integrity legislation implementing one-day voting or hand-counting ballots.
A representative from LD 3 told The Arizona Sun Times, “Having experienced massive election problems in 2020 and 2022 the Arizona Republican Legislature attempted to shore up several vulnerabilities in Arizona election laws and processes during the 2023 Legislative session placing some 25 election integrity bills on Governor Kati Hobbs desk (with zero Democrat support) only to have every, single one vetoed.”
He said the next steps are to pass the resolution in several other LDs at the MCRC annual statutory mandatory meeting in January 2024 and to ask citizens to discuss with their Arizona House and Senate legislators for immediate action.
There is currently a feud over which entity legally represents LD 3 Republicans. The district represents much of the North Phoenix area and Scottsdale. The dispute split the AZGOP and the MCRC. A court refused to rule in favor of the group led by Candace Czarny, which is backed by the AZGOP, stating that it was up to the party to handle the dispute. The other group, which held new officer elections due to believing there was election fraud with the other slate and is backed by the MCRC, is the one that issued the resolution.
The presidential primary preference election is scheduled for March 19, 2024.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “People Voting in Person” by Phil Roeder. CC BY-SA 2.0.
