Three election-reform bills cleared the Arizona Senate, sending Sen. Michele Reagan’s trio of bills to the House despite objections from Democrats that the bills would infringe on voter rights and undo years of get-out-the vote efforts by activist groups.

Winning an election in Arizona could soon get a lot more expensive.

Arizona lawmakers want to make it harder for citizens to put issues on the ballot.

The door-to-door ballot collection that has characterized many a recent get-out-the-vote efforts by activist groups may be a thing of the past.

On a 4-3 party line vote, the Senate Elections Committee on Tuesday approved an amended version of Sen. Michele Reagan’s Senate Bill 1003, which would make it a Class 5 felony for anyone other than a relative or household member to turn in another voter’s mail-in ballot.

When Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery accused Attorney General Tom Horne of illegally coordinating his campaign with a supposedly independent expenditure group, state law restricted him to seeking civil penalties.

Most states had better overall election administration procedures than Arizona in 2008 and 2010, according to a study released this week by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Fred DuVal said there is a “high probability” that he will officially begin his campaign for governor later this month.

DuVal, a former regent, former Clinton White House aide and longtime Democratic operative, said he expects to file his campaign committee with the Secretary of State’s Office by the end of February.

Hoping to lessen the crush of provisional ballots that delayed the final tally after the November election, the new Senate Elections Committee took its first step in changing the laws governing Arizona’s Permanent Early Voter List.

Maricopa County elections officials don’t want to see a repeat of 2012.


After Election Day, the county had a record number of provisional ballots. For two weeks afterward, they counted votes, including thousands of provisional ballots caused by people who had received early ballots in the mail but chose to vote in person on Election Day instead.

Requiring Arizonans to have their signatures notarized to get on the permanent early ballot list or to receive early ballots would help prevent voter fraud, a state lawmaker contends.