We have always known that the left is strongly opposed to election integrity. In their hearts, they want voting to resemble how they select the best performers on American Idol—no security, no ID, no paper ballots, and no concern if someone decides to vote a few extra times.
Usually though, the left is pretty good at not saying this out loud. They couch their desires as supporting “voter access” or “expanded voting rights.” Very rarely do they reveal their true intentions of supporting open fraud in the system—yet they have now. And in open court no less.
Earlier this week, Russiagate hoax lawyer Marc Elias (Hillary Clinton’s old consigliere) filed a lawsuit challenging SB1260. Sponsored by Senator J.D. Mesnard, SB1260 is a simple but critical election integrity measure to prevent duplicate voter registrations. It requires county recorders to cancel the registrations of individuals who have since moved to and registered to vote in another county or state. For example, if you live and are registered to vote in Yavapai County, and then move to and register to vote in Maricopa County, SB1260 requires the Yavapai County Recorder to cancel your old registration.
Unsurprisingly, as with all commonsense measures that make it easy to vote and hard to cheat, Elias took issue with it. Not because, as they assert in other cases, the bill is unnecessary and there isn’t a problem with voter rolls. No, to the contrary, they admit that “having multiple registrations is legal and common.”
That’s not just one line in their lawsuit. It’s a central part of their argument. They reiterate it several times throughout their complaint, arguing that “to be registered to vote in more than one state or in more than one county in Arizona” is “quite common.”
Interestingly, they then make the argument, as they do in their challenges to the other election integrity measures, that SB1260 is not justified by any legitimate state interest. But the Elias lawyers themselves are arguing the state interest: the fact that it is “quite common” for someone to be a registered voter in multiple counties and states at any given time.
Even further, their argument in this case justifies the legitimate state interest of another Arizona election integrity measure, HB2243, that they have dragged into court. HB2243 revived a bill that had been vetoed by Governor Ducey, HB2617, which was sponsored by Representative Joseph Chaplik to ensure we have comprehensive and routine voter roll maintenance requirements to ensure only eligible voters are on our rolls.
Why is HB2243 necessary? We’ll let the Elias lawyers answer that in their suit against SB1260:
“People do not ordinarily think to affirmatively cancel their voter registration when they move, and there often is no obvious or easy way to do so. Nor is there any assurance that a jurisdiction will actually cancel a voter’s registration immediately upon receiving a request.”
Their argument in opposition to the new law is precisely why the law is needed! Having accurate voter rolls is imperative to conducting an election with integrity in which the electorate has confidence. Inaccurate voter rolls lead to ballots being sent to people who no longer live here, reducing confidence and creating the opportunity for bad actors to commit fraud.
And although, as the Elias lawyers argue, inaccurate voter rolls are often because of forgetfulness on behalf of voters who move from one state to another without thinking about cancelling their registration, this new lawsuit outlines exactly why bills like SB1260 and HB2243 were two of the most important pieces of election integrity legislation to pass this year, and exactly why voter roll maintenance is the first step in securing our elections.
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