Phoenix, AZ – The Arizona Free Enterprise Club filed a lawsuit on Friday to challenge the validity of a radical initiative that seeks to:
Upend Arizona’s election administration and voter registration laws.
Sharply reduce candidate contribution limits while channeling more taxpayer subsidies to so-called “Clean Elections” candidates.
Curtail safeguards governing the initiative and referendum process.
Impose new taxes.
The complaint contends that well over half of the signatures on the election initiative were gathered illegally. And it includes evidence of the illegally collected signatures along with proof that many of the initiative’s paid circulators provided false information or failed to register with the Secretary of State.
“After analyzing over 45,000 petition sheets and 420,000 signatures, it’s clear that well over half of the signatures on this election initiative were collected in violation of state law,” said Club President Scot Mussi. “That should be more than enough to invalidate this initiative.”
The complaint requests that the court disqualify any signatures collected illegally or by individuals who were not properly registered with the Secretary of State at the time the signatures were gathered.
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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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Last week, the Biden Administration officially filed a lawsuit against Arizona over HB2492, which bolsters safeguards to our voter registration process to require proof of citizenship ensuring only U.S. citizens are voting in our elections.
To many, it sounds absurd. Not HB2492, but the revelation that in Arizona, and in every state in the country, people are registering to vote and voting without ever providing proof of citizenship.
You can find out how this happened and how we went from rejecting all voter registration applications without (Documentary Proof of Citizenship) DPOC in 2005 to registering all individuals, whether they used our own state form or the federal form, as “Federal Only Voters” here.
Thankfully, back in March HB2492, sponsored by Representative Jake Hoffman, was signed into law. It was the first election integrity bill to pass out of the legislature, and the first signed. In short, HB2492 cracks down on state voter registration forms submitted without DPOC, requires counties to attempt to ascertain the citizenship status for those who utilize the federal form, and, importantly, makes proof of citizenship a requirement to vote by mail and to vote for President. A full breakdown of the bill can be found here.
This was one of the most critical and impactful election integrity reforms of the legislative session. And that can be seen from the two lawsuits filed within hours of it being signed, one coming from Democrat Russiagate hoax lawyer Marc Elias, and both on behalf of liberal nonprofit organizations. It becomes clearer from the third lawsuit filed last month from another leftist group, and now with this case, officially USA v. Arizona, coming from Biden.
These lawsuits all make nearly identical claims and arguments, all of which are flawed, because HB2492 is well crafted and stands on strong constitutional reasoning.
HB2492 requires counties to reject state voter registration forms that are submitted without proof of citizenship, which the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed our authority to do in Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc.: “States retain the flexibility to design and use their own registration forms.”
HB2492 requires counties to reject federal voter registration forms if, after checking the various databases HB2492 requires them to review, they find that the person is not a U.S. citizen. Justice Scalia wrote that the NVRA “does not preclude States from ‘deny[ing] registration based on information in their possession establishing the applicant’s ineligibility.” So yet again, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed our power to do this.
HB2492 makes proof of citizenship a requirement to vote for President and by mail in any election. The Electors Clause of the U.S. Constitution grants plenary authority to state legislatures over the manner of appointing presidential electors. While this argument has not been made to the courts, once again the plain text of the U.S. Constitution is consistent with the requirements of HB2492.
The misguided lawsuits also attack HB2492’s requirement to include place of birth on the registration form, oblivious to the fact that it is currently on the Arizona voter registration form, which was created by Democrat Secretary of State Katie Hobbs. Also ignoring that it was actually the Election Assistance Commission who recommended obtaining place of birth to help verify citizenship status.
The reality is that these are flawed lawsuits against a commonsense bill. Instead of wasting time and taxpayer dollars in court, the Biden administration should actually be securing our border, protecting states like ours from an invasion of illegal immigrants. Instead, they are trying to stop necessary election reforms that make it easy to vote and hard to cheat and protect our elections from the hundreds of thousands of people illegally crossing into our country each day under their watch.
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.
Phoenix, AZ – Today the Arizona Free Enterprise Club announced their third slate of endorsements for the 2022 election.
The endorsed candidates represent individuals who align with the organization’s principles and key policy goals. Club President Scot Mussi stated, “It is critical Arizona has leaders and policy makers who are able to articulate and stand up for individual liberties, free market principles, and conservatie values. This slate of candidates has proven they can and will.”
Arizona State Legislature
LD 4
LD 10
LD 23
House: Vera Gebran
Senate: David Farnsworth
Senate: Gary Snyder
House: Maria Syms
House: Michele Pena (Write-in)
LD 9
LD 13
House: Kathy Pearce
House: Julie Willoughby
House: Mary Ann Mendoza
Local City and Town Council
Chandler
Payson
Fountain Hills
Darla Gonzalez
Tom Morrissey (Mayor)
Brenda Kalivianakis
Farhana Shifa
Allen Skillicorn
Hannah Toth
Peoria
Gilbert
Queen Creek
Jason Beck (Mayor)
Jim Torgeson
Travis Padilla
Mario Chicas
Bobbi Buchli
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.
Voted for taxpayer subsidized in-state tuition for illegals (2021, SCR1044.). David Cook was only 1 of 4 Republicans in the House that voted for this bill.
Sponsored a bill supported by Democrats to protect sanctuary cities and incentivize illegals to stay in Arizona by forcing governments to accept foreign IDs. (2021, HB2458). A Democrat in the House introduced the same bill as HB2685.
Increasing Taxes
Voted for a statewide sales tax increase. SCR1049, 2022
Sponsored a bill to increase taxes on small businesses’ employee wages in the middle of a pandemic. (2021, HB2805)
Voted with Democrats to impose a new tax on small businesses (2021, HB2161)
Infringing on the 2nd Amendment
Opposed a bill that would allow students and faculty members at universities to carry a firearm to protect themselves and others on campus. (2022, HB2447).
View David Cook’s comments in House Republican caucus. Cook argues that because foreign students attend our universities and are not familiar with our 2nd Amendment rights, that is a reason not to allow CCW holders carry weapons on campus.
Pay Raises for Politicians & Bureaucrats
Voted to give salary increases to Maricopa County politicians, the same people opposing the Maricopa County election audit. (2021, HB2700)
Voted to give himself and fellow lawmakers a pay raise. (2021, HB2053)
Sponsored a bill to protect career politicians by allowing them to pay a fee to be on the ballot to avoid collecting signatures from voters. (2022, HB2581)
Subsidies for the Swamp
Sponsored a bill to give hundreds of millions in taxpayer subsidies to Hollywood liberals to make woke movies and relocate thousands of California Democrats to Arizona. (2022, SB1708)
Paid for by The Arizona Free Enterprise Club. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate campaign committee. 602-385-0757
We often hear that over 90% of Maricopa county voters voted early in 2020. While this is true, it can be misleading – leading individuals to think that 90% voted early by mail. In reality, less than half actually returned their ballot by mail – 993,000 to be exact. The next largest group, 714,000, were early ballot drop offs. Of those, more than 200,000 were dropped off on election day alone.
This means that an individual went to a polling location on election day, but instead of showing ID and signing the poll book, they dropped their ballot into a drop box. These are often referred to as “late earlies” even though they are received by the election day deadline, and they are a major cause for the post-election days long tabulation process in Arizona.
The county begins processing these after the polling locations have closed. They have to be scanned, “signature verified,” cured, removed from the envelope, and finally tabulated with some going on to be adjudicated. This takes time, which reduces confidence. It also increases the likelihood of invalid or fraudulent ballots being counted.
That’s where SB1362 comes in. Sponsored by Senator Mesnard and signed by the Governor on June 6, SB1362 establishes the framework for tabulating these ballots on-site.
Instead of dropping the ballot off, the voter, if they choose, can show their ID, have the poll worker check the envelope to verify it is their ballot, sign the poll book, and then remove the ballot and tabulate it themselves.
This means more voters casting their ballot at a polling location on election day, showing ID, and signing the poll book. It also means that their ballot is immediately tabulated, preventing electronic adjudication – where election officials decide how a voter intended to mark their ballot out of sight and knowledge of the voter.
With on-site tabulation, if there is an issue with their ballot they will know then and there when they tabulate it, just like in-person voters, providing confidence that their votes are being recorded as intended.
SB1362 is the example of making it easy to vote and hard to cheat. It introduces a new option for voters, providing more access, with strong front-end safeguards like requiring ID and back-end auditability by requiring the county to reconcile the number of ballots tabulated with the number of voters who signed the poll book and the number of ballot envelopes deposited.
However, the process setup by SB1362 is optional for the counties as well. They are not mandated to do it, but they should and we strongly encourage them to do so.
Not all counties currently tabulate on-site even for in-person voters, instead transporting them from the polling location to a central count facility. These counties should move to on-site tabulation – for both election day in-person voters and for election day early ballot tabulation established by SB1362.
Other counties, Maricopa being one, do currently tabulate in-person election day ballots on-site. SB1362 provides these counties, who already have the necessary equipment, an opportunity this November to simultaneously increase access to voters and increase confidence, security, and transparency. They should enthusiastically do so.
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.
“Let’s just make everything free!” That might as well be the Left’s motto at this point as they clearly don’t understand how a good economy works. While the past 18 months under President Biden is proof enough of that, they’re not done yet. The Left is fully committed to its plan to build back even broker. And now, they’re targeting conservative states like Arizona to do so.
The latest initiative being pushed in our state comes from California unions. (Because apparently no one knows a good economy like a California union.) It’s called the “Predatory Debt Collection Practices Act,” which sounds harmless enough. After all, who doesn’t want to stick it to predatory debt collectors? But just as you would expect from a California initiative being pushed here in Arizona, it’s not only anti-creditor, it’s anti-business. And it would make Bernie Sanders proud.
This deceptively named initiative would create a threshold for garnishments at $51,000 earned per year. Anyone making below $50,000 per year would be essentially untouchable by creditors. And it would significantly reduce the amount owed for even those making over $200,000 per year! This would eliminate approximately 60-70% of active wage garnishments on civil judgments. That means businesses, landlords, and judgment creditors would be without legal recourse for unpaid debts.
But there’s even more to this initiative:
It would raise the threshold from money in bank accounts that’s protected from creditors from $300 to $5,000. (This effectively eliminates bank garnishments as a recovery strategy.)
It would raise the amount of equity that’s protected from creditors from $250,000 to $400,000. (This effectively eliminates most payoffs from escrow transactions when someone sells their home.)
It would significantly increase other personal property exemptions, which would allow someone in debt to keep property they never paid for.
So far, the California unions have dumped more than $4 million into their attempt to get this Bernie Sanders Debt Cancellation Initiative on the ballot in November. But even Bernie has stopped at student loan cancellation. This initiative would apply to credit cards, auto loans, interest payments, and retail debt. And while this may sound good to people who are in debt, the question remains. If this initiative is passed, why would anyone feel compelled to pay their bills anymore? The reality is that a ballot initiative like this one would punish those who actually pay their bills while rewarding irresponsible behavior. And it would cause the price of all goods to skyrocket. (Yay! More inflation!) But perhaps there’s an even simpler solution to the debt problem in America:
Don’t spend more money than you make.
Save money to buy more expensive items.
Create and live off a budget.
This is what responsible citizens do. There are even free apps like this one and this one that can help. And they are certainly better options than another union-backed ballot initiative that wants to turn Arizona into California.
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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