Hobbs, GOP, Democrats find compromise as fix to AZ's election calendar clears Legislature

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs on Friday signed into law a bill designed to ensure an automatic vote recount provision won't disrupt this year's elections.

Her action comes a day after state lawmakers gave lopsided approval to the bill, drawing praise for its bipartisan backing.

“With this bill, we are making sure every eligible Arizonan will have their voice heard at the ballot box," Hobbs said in a video release on social media. "We protected voters rights, we kept the partisan priorities out and we demonstrated to the county that our democracy is strong.”

The legislation carves time out of the election calendar, which will be done in part by moving this year's primary election to July 30 from the planned Aug. 6 date. The move saves seven days in the election calendar and will help ensure any race that goes to an automatic recount does not delay other key election events.

Specifically, the bill is designed to ensure that military and overseas voters will get their ballots for the November general election in a timely manner. It also will ensure that a time-consuming recount won't hold up Arizona's ability to have its vote for president count in the national tally.

The bill passed with unusually heavy bipartisan support, given the divisive and at times bitter debate that surrounded the measure. Only four of the 90 lawmakers voted "no." The four were all Republicans.

"I’m happy to say Arizona will deliver its electors on time," Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, said. He was referring to the warning from county election officials that a close finish in the presidential race could trigger a recount that prevents Arizona from sending its electors to the Electoral College in time for the Jan. 6 count.

Petersen's comment came as the Senate surpassed the 20-vote threshold required to have House Bill 2785 take effect upon Hobbs' signature.

The Senate vote was 24-2. The House approved the bill on a 56-2 vote.

The bill responds to concerns raised last fall by county officials who run elections. Every election director and board of supervisors in the 15 counties supported the bill, with most of the county recorders also on board.

Hobbs, like lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, said the bill was far from perfect. A compromise was necessary to muster the needed votes, but lawmakers and the governor lauded the bipartisan effort.

Republicans had to give on provisions that would have moved the primary to the second Tuesday of May beginning in 2026.

They also had to abandon a plan that would have required public high schools and district offices to serve as polling places, if requested by election officials. That plan also would have required teachers to stay at work, even though classrooms would be empty — a level of micromanagement that many Democrats objected to.

Republicans won some policies they say will boost voter confidence in elections and that previously were felled by Hobbs' veto pen.

Key among them are embedding signature verification guidelines in state law, as opposed to the current case where they are overseen by the Arizona secretary of state.

Another provision would allow political parties to get daily reports of ballots that come back with questionable or missing signatures on the ballot envelope during the early voting period. Those reports would allow parties to contact those voters and urge them to "cure," or correct, their signatures. The process is called "ballot chasing."

“There is no complaint that I heard more, or more vociferously from our grassroots, than that this body did not use its leverage to get election integrity signed into law," said Rep. Alexander Kolodin, the sponsor of House Bill 2785. "Today, we remedy that.”

He said the biggest obstacle to GOP reforms was not the Democrats, but Republicans who insisted on getting everything or nothing.

“We have acted like crabs in a bucket, letting the perfect be the enemy of the good," Kolodin said.

Democrats played defense on many of the bill's provisions, blocking proposals creating a May primary and deferring to 2026 other provisions they said had nothing to do with the automatic recount fix. The ballot-chasing provision is only in place for two years, allowing lawmakers time to deliberate on its effect on voters as well as election workers, said Rep. Laura Terech, a Phoenix Democrat who serves as a key negotiator.

Terech, like many others Thursday, was heartened by the bipartisan work.

“In such a divisive, heated environment, it is refreshing that we can come together," she said.

Of the dissenters, only Sen. Anthony Kern, R-Glendale, explained his "no" vote. Also voting against SB 2785, or its identical Senate version, SB 1733, were Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, Rep. Barbara Parker, R-Mesa, and Rep. Jacqueline Parker, R-Mesa.

Kern objected to the addition of amendments without enough time to review them.

He also said he is troubled by one of the provisions set to take effect in two years. It would allow voters who filled out an early ballot to return it to a polling place on election day, show ID, and have their ballot stamped as verified without needing scrutiny of the voter's signature against the voting rolls.

"I do like the signature verification," he said. "That's a good piece. That's probably the only good piece."

Safer voting: This Arizona ballot maker had robust security in place before 2020 elections. For 2024, it's adding more

Republic reporter Ray Stern contributed to this article.

Reach the reporter at maryjo.pitzl@arizonarepublic.com or at 602-228-7566 and follow her on Threads as well as on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @maryjpitzl.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona election fix sails through state Legislature, awaits governor