Minority Report

Conference Committee to SB 1053

May 12, 2008

I do not concur with the conference committee report to SB 1053 (NOW elections; observation; counting center). Provisions added as part of the 42-page conference committee amendment can narrow the timeframe for early voting in elections, harming Arizona voters.

The bill as it passed the Senate expanded the list of persons that shall observe proceedings at the ballot counting center to include a representative of a candidate for nonpartisan office and a representative of a political committee in support of or in opposition to a ballot measure, proposition or question. Amendments in the House focused on the same issue.

The conference committee amendment, however, piled on a number of other measures that the House and Senate were weighing in separate bills. The unfortunate result is that positive measures that will assist county election officials in administering elections in the State are coupled with measures that threaten early voting.

Arizona statutes are currently constructed to allow the counties to open on-site early voting centers and mail early ballots 33 days before the election. See A.R.S. § 16-545(B). The conference committee amendment, however, states that on-site voting centers may be opened only when a county begins to mail the early ballots.

Under State law, the counties have five days to mail early ballots after they are delivered. See A.R.S. § 16-542(C). The committee amendment, therefore, allows a shorter time for early voting. The Legislature should expand opportunities for citizens to vote. The amendment takes the State in the opposite direction.

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Steve M. Gallardo, District 13