Following in the footsteps of his predecessor (now-Governor Katie Hobbs), Secretary of State Adrian Fontes appears determined to implement an Election Procedures Manual (EPM) that is ripe with unlawful provisions. The EPM is used by election officials throughout the state as the rulebook to conduct and run elections, so it is critically important that every provision in the manual strictly adheres to state law.
Now, fresh off an important legal win over the illegal signature verification process in the EPM, the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, along with the Thomas More Society, is suing Fontes once again—this time over unstaffed ballot drop boxes.
An Illegal Method of Voting
Arizona law establishes four different methods for secure early voting. According to A.R.S. § 16-548(A), an early ballot shall either be:
Delivered to the officer in charge of elections, typically the county recorder.
Mailed to the officer in charge of elections, typically the county recorder.
Deposited by the voter at any polling place in the county.
Deposited by the voter’s agent (family member, household member, caregiver) at any polling place in the county.
Did you catch that? Nowhere in the law does it allow for the use of unstaffed drop boxes. In fact, if you read through Fontes’ EPM, you’ll notice something. Although the EPM includes over 1,000 citations, the section on its unstaffed drop box scheme includes zero citations of Arizona law! You can see for yourself right here. And yet, Fontes still moved forward with this invented option in the final draft of the EPM he submitted to Governor Hobbs and Attorney General Mayes. But the omission of such citations is only one problem with drop boxes.
Drop Boxes Lack the Protections of the USPS
Unlike U.S. Postal Service (USPS) mail collection boxes, unstaffed drop boxes don’t enjoy special protections under federal law that could lead to prison sentences for crimes like obstruction of mail passage, destruction of mail, and vandalism of a mailbox. On top of that, these unstaffed drop boxes aren’t required to have locks. Instead, they are “secured” with a “tamper-evident seal.” (Who could get past such a fortress of security?) And, while the USPS requires mail carriers to take an oath of fidelity to the Constitution, Fontes’ EPM creates the position of “ballot retriever.” Do you know what it takes to qualify as a “ballot retriever”? An individual simply needs to wear a badge when performing his or her duties! That’s it! It’s right there in the EPM.
Then, there’s the simple fact that USPS mailboxes offer an additional level of security because they can contain different varieties of mail at any given time. This makes it impossible for a bad actor to know whether a particular mailbox contains early voted ballots. By contrast, an unstaffed drop box contains only completed ballots, providing anyone who wants to interfere with an election the certainty to know that the contents of the drop box likely contain a significant number of completed ballots.
Other Issues with Drop Boxes
Along with lacking the protections of the USPS, unstaffed drop boxes also increase the possibility of voter intimidation. After all, when a person approaches a drop box, it’s clear that he or she has no reason to be there except to deliver a voted ballot. This makes that person an easy and vulnerable target, which is much less likely to occur at a mailbox or an election official’s office.
And finally, there’s the issue of unsecure locations. Fontes’ EPM doesn’t require unstaffed drop boxes to be located at or near a government building. Because of this drop boxes have been established at churches, elementary schools, restaurants, bookstores, humane societies, and more. In fact, some drop boxes in Yavapai County have been placed at U.S. Postal Offices—mere feet away from a mailbox where voters could legally return their ballots. (You can’t make this stuff up…)
For all these reasons and more, the Free Enterprise Club filed a lawsuit last week in the Yavapai County Superior Court. The use of drop boxes must be in accordance with state law, and we are hopeful that our lawsuit will result in election officials ending their use at illegal unstaffed locations for the 2024 election. This would give the people of Arizona exactly what they want: elections where it is easy to vote and hard to cheat.
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For the Democrats and their sycophant media allies, the problem is always too much parental choice in education and letting taxpayers keep more of their hard-earned money. Yet this narrative couldn’t be further from the truth. A closer look at Arizona’s budget and the projected budget deficit reveals that we have a spending problem, not a revenue problem.
Projected Budget Shortfall Is a Spending Problem
Just 5 years ago, the legislature enacted the FY 2019 budget that included $10.1 billion in on-going spending, plus $500M in “one-time” expenditures ($10.7 billion total). By last year, that number had exploded to nearly $15 Billion in ongoing spending, a 50% growth in ongoing spending in 5 years! The most recent budget negotiated with Democrat Katie Hobbs earlier this year kept ongoing spending at a lower trajectory but included “one-time” outlays that brought the total budget cost to $17.8B.
The truth is that Arizonans continue to be overtaxed. And even with the largest tax cut in state history, tax revenue has continued to climb, largely due to the decision by state lawmakers in 2019 to start taxing online sales. That one change in our sales tax collection has resulted in BILLIONS in new revenue for state and local governments. Yet the media and the left only want to talk about the income tax cut, not all the tax hikes Arizonans have endured.
Record Levels of K-12 Spending
Along with bashing our much-needed income tax cuts, the left has targeted school choice as the other culprit for the budget deficit. Since universal expansion was enacted last year, Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESAs) are now providing over 60,000 families the freedom to make educational decisions for themselves, instead of being locked into government schools. According to the teachers’ union and math-challenged educrat organizations, ESAs are costing the state hundreds of millions of dollars and diverting funds from district schools.
In fact, the legislature had to vote this year (for the second year in a row) to override the constitutional expenditure limit for government schools. This spending limit was overwhelmingly supported by voters to protect against runaway spending. The waiver this year, which requires a 2/3 majority to authorize, was to the tune of $1.4 billion, more than three times the potential budget shortfall.
As for the claim that ESAs are costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, the reality is the opposite. According to an excellent analysis by Matt Beienburg at the Goldwater Institute, ESAs represent only a tiny fraction of all K-12 school spending, and taxpayers actually save money when a parent decides to leave a district school to attend a charter or private school.
Additionally, during COVID the federal government was spending trillions of dollars racking up the federal debt and inflation. That has thrown off budget projections nationwide, and most states are now seeing a slowing of tax revenue leading to potential deficits.
Budget Deficit Presents Opportunity for Long Overdue Spending Restraint
The current budget volatility Arizona is experiencing shouldn’t be that big of a surprise to anyone who has been following local and national trends. State governments around the nation are dealing with volatile budget projections, falling tax revenue, and widening budget deficits. And in every case, runaway spending has been the culprit.
So, the solution is simple: reduce spending to be more in line with what population and inflation growth has been over the last five years. Republicans did the best they could with Katie Hobbs on the 9th Floor, who vetoed their first fiscally responsible budget proposal. We don’t expect Hobbs and her spend happy allies to be any easier to work with next year, so fiscal hawks in the legislature will have their work cut out for them.
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
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“The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” Unless you are New Mexico Governor Lujan Grisham, who thinks she can just declare a public health emergency and ignore what the Constitution says. Yes, in her view, she can declare an emergency and then all “rights” are on the table, and she is free to suspend them as she wishes.
Thankfully, this was too far for even anti-gun politicians like Rep. Ted Lieu from California and New Mexico’s own Attorney General who said he would not defend the declaration in court. In other words, it was so clearly unconstitutional that even the most radical gun control advocates distanced themselves from it.
Abuses of Emergency Powers During COVID
But it is an important reminder of the abuse of emergency powers we all experienced during COVID, and why it is critical to rein in these powers. While it’s clearly unconstitutional to suspend the 2nd amendment with an emergency declaration, most states over the last 100 years have granted extremely broad powers to the executive branch to declare so-called public health “emergencies.” These powers are usually enshrined in state law, and they have largely been upheld by courts as constitutional.
Arizona was not and is not immune from this. Here, the “emergency” declaration in response to COVID was not officially terminated until March 30, 2022, 749 days after it was first declared. During that time, businesses were closed, students were required to wear masks, and people were prevented from seeing loved ones in hospitals.
Many lawmakers wanted to halt the emergency declaration almost immediately, but quickly discovered that if they wanted to end the emergency outside of regular session, they needed 2/3 of the body to call a special session. And if the legislature was called into session, they were powerless at stopping local governments and Charter cities like Tucson or Phoenix from declaring their own state of emergency if the statewide emergency was terminated. It was quickly determined that without significant emergency powers reform, our freedoms and liberties will remain under threat from overreaching government.
States Need to Restrict Emergency Powers, and That Is What HCR2039 Will Do
Earlier this year, Justice Gorsuch wrote, “Since March 2020, we may have experienced the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country” and “it is hard not to wonder, too, whether state legislatures might profitably reexamine the proper scope of emergency executive powers at the state level.” Thankfully, that is exactly what our legislature did in passing HCR2039, allowing the people to amend the constitution to ensure no future “emergency” declaration is without end and without a proper check from the legislature.
If passed by the voters in 2024, HCR2039 would constitutionally limit emergency powers of the Governor and provide the legislature with the authority to roll back any emergency declared in the state. HCR2039 would:
Require automatic termination of an emergency declaration by a Governor 30 days after it is declared.
Empower the legislature to call itself into a special session immediately after an emergency declaration by a Governor with just one third of the body.
Allow the legislature to alter, limit or roll back an emergency declaration at any time after it is declared.
HCR2039 Does Not Confer Any New Emergency Powers
Some believe that all emergency statutes are unconstitutional in the first place because they are not enumerated in the state constitution. That’s not true because states have inherent police powers, including for the protection of public health and safety. That is why existing emergency powers statutes in Arizona have largely been upheld by the courts. Whether the Arizona Constitution makes mention of “emergency powers” or not, the legislature has the authority to prescribe the powers and duties of the Governor, including the ability to respond to emergencies. In other words, all powers not delegated to the federal government by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the states under the 10thAmendment, are reserved to the states.
HCR2039 Is Supported by Conservatives and Opposed by the Radical Left
This pro liberty ballot measure was supported unanimously by conservative lawmakers and has the support of freedom-minded groups including the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, Goldwater Institute, Republican Liberty Caucus of Arizona, and EZAZ. Conversely, it was unanimously opposed by all Democrat lawmakers and by liberal pro-lockdown organizations including the Arizona Public Health Association, Civic Engagement Beyond Voting, National Organization for Women, the Sierra Club, and Arizona Center for Economic Progress.
Before the next “emergency,” it’s imperative that Arizonans enshrine a strong constitutional limit on the powers the legislature can delegate to the Governor to respond.
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
Join our FREE Grassroots Action List to stay up to date on the latest battles against big government and how YOU can help influence crucial bills at the Arizona State Legislature.
“Don’t California our Arizona.” It’s a saying we’ve had around here for quite some time, and for good reason. Not only is California known for having ridiculously high tax rates, but woke policies in the state have:
The list could go on and on. But it’s pretty clear. California’s policies have been a disaster, so much so that the state once ran out of U-Hauls because so many people were leaving. And yet, despite all this, Arizona lawmakers still decided to send your hard-earned dollars to woke Hollywood liberals through a movie tax credit bill last year. And while we hate to say we told you so, that decision now appears to be coming back to haunt Arizonans.
Earlier this week, it was announced that DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg’s political operation will be joining forces with Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs to launch a PAC here in our state. And what is the PAC’s primary goal? Making sure Democrats win control of our state legislature! And you can be certain that Hobbs will gladly reward her woke allies in Hollywood with your tax dollars—all the while fighting to stop Arizona’s kids from receiving $7,000 to pursue an educational experience that works for them.
This is the exact reason why the Club fought so heavily against the movie tax credit bill (HB2156) in the first place. The legislation gives movie companies refundable tax credit subsidies up to 15 percent if they spend up to $10 million in productions costs, 17.5 percent if they spend between $10 million and $35 million, and 20 percent if they spend over $35 million. Plus, there’s an opportunity for an additional 2.5 percent if the movie company meets other criteria. With the average cost of making a movie over $100 million, that means the vast majority of movie companies will benefit from the highest possible percentage.
So how much of your tax dollars will be given away to liberal movie studios like DreamWorks that want to turn Arizona Blue?
$75 million in 2023
$100 million in 2024
And $125 million in 2025 and each year thereafter
But our state has to be getting jobs or something else out of this, right? Wrong. Countless studies on Hollywood subsidies conducted by both liberal and conservative economists have concluded that these tax credit schemes are a ripoff. One recent study found that despite $10 billion in taxpayer spending, there was no statistically significant impact on employment. Womp…womp…
That means the only thing Arizonans have to look forward to thanks to this ridiculous piece of legislation is Hollywood liberals like Jeffrey Katzenberg leveraging cash from Arizona taxpayers to push their woke agenda and elect Democrats. All while making movies bashing America using our state as the backdrop.
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
Join our FREE Grassroots Action List to stay up to date on the latest battles against big government and how YOU can help influence crucial bills at the Arizona State Legislature.
It’s time for COVID mandates to go away forever. And last month, one Arizona town took a step in this direction when it passed a resolution that needs to be a trend in every city throughout our state.
With a desire to take proactive measures to protect citizens’ constitutional rights, the Queen Creek Town Council passed Resolution No. 1540-23 with a unanimous vote during its regular meeting in September. And it’s quite clear. While the town recommends that people exercise personal responsibility to prevent illness, it committed to not implementing mandates concerning masks, vaccines, business closures, curfews, or “any similar measure.”
On top of that, the new town policy protects its employees who will be allowed to make their own decisions on vaccines and mask-wearing without facing the threat of losing their jobs for refusing to wear a mask or get the COVID vaccine. And perhaps even better, the new ordinance doesn’t just apply to COVID. It has been officially adopted by the town for the response to any future pandemic. It’s about time we see some sanity in government.
While it’s certainly sad that it ever had to come to this, COVID paranoia has been with us for several years now, and it’s clear that it’s not going away any time soon. Back in August, Morris Brown College in Atlanta implemented a two-week mask mandate for all students faculty and staff. And in the same month, Hollywood studio Lionsgate also instituted a mask mandate for employees due to COVID. Yes. This is still happening in August 2023.
But it also serves as a great reminder of all the ways government officials seized our freedoms during the pandemic.
We faced mask mandates, lockdowns, and social distancing all in the name of taking “15 days to slow the spread.” Many students were shut out of their classrooms for over a year only to find out that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was following the advice of a teachers’ union. Some government officials threatened the idea of vaccine passports as the price of getting back to normal. Then, President Biden took it a step further when he went ahead and mandated vaccines for any employer with 100 or more employees with cities like Phoenix following in his footsteps. While the Supreme Court eventually blocked the move, many citizens had already given in to the mandate out of fear of losing their jobs, and the damage had been done.
But let’s take a step back to June 2020. If you’ll recall at that time, just about every local government in the state of Arizona enforced mask mandates. That included Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler, Scottsdale, Tempe, and more. But one town refused to implement mask mandates any longer. And that was Queen Creek.
Now, the town is leading the charge toward freedom again, and it’s time for the rest of Arizona’s cities to get on board. COVID hysteria has gone on long enough. And the Club is committed to doing whatever it takes to ensure that a great ordinance like the one Queen Creek just passed is spread around the entire state.
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
Join our FREE Grassroots Action List to stay up to date on the latest battles against big government and how YOU can help influence crucial bills at the Arizona State Legislature.
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