“Arizona Republicans Enact Sweeping Changes To State’s Early Voting List”

NPR:

Shortly after Arizona Republican lawmakers approved it, GOP Gov. Doug Ducey on Tuesday quickly signed a bill into law that could remove tens of thousands of voters from the state’s early ballot mailing list.

Voters who sign up for the state’s Permanent Early Voting List — PEVL for short — are automatically sent a ballot for every election in which they’re eligible to vote.

The PEVL has grown increasingly popular with each passing election in Arizona. And whether voters actually use their early ballot or not has — to date — been irrelevant.

But Senate Bill 1485, sponsored by Republican Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita, takes the “permanent” out of the PEVL.

Her legislation rebrands the PEVL as the “Active” Early Voting List, a name that highlights the main purpose of the measure — to remove voters from the list if they don’t use their early ballot at least once in two straight two-year election cycles, and if they don’t respond to a notice from county officials, warning them of the removal. Voting the old-fashioned way, in person at a polling site, wouldn’t count, either.

Share this: