With Gov. Katie Hobbs signaling opposition to a Republican proposal to speed up election results in Arizona, the measure is on a path for voters to decide. 

The House approved an amendment to HCR2013, called the “Arizona Free and Fair Elections Act,” on Tuesday that incorporates language from other election measures Republican legislators have introduced that would model Arizona’s elections after Florida’s. 

Speeding up the state’s election results is a major priority for Republicans in the legislature, but Hobbs views the bills as partisan measures that will make it harder for people to vote. 

“It’s abundantly clear these partisan bills are not about speeding up election results, but rather about disenfranchising voters to advantage one political party over the other,” Hobbs’ spokesman Christian Slater said in a written statement Tuesday. “The bills make it harder to vote by restricting late early drop-off, they effectively end the Active Early Voting List, and they unfairly burden public school districts.”

The two bills Republicans have introduced are HB2703 and SB1011. The mirror bills would stop allowing people to drop off early ballots on Election ay, called “late early” ballots. 

Under the proposal, the deadline to drop off an early ballot at a polling place would move to 7 p.m. the Friday before Election Day. Voters who try to deliver an early ballot on Election Day or the days after Friday would be required to present identification and sign an affidavit. 

Election officials have attributed delays to election results from the time it takes to verify late early signatures.

Schools would also be forced to provide space for use as a voting location for an election if the measure becomes law. 

Slater said Tuesday that Republicans have not tried to work with Hobbs and negotiate on the issue, and he promised a veto from the governor if the bill makes it to her desk “without real compromise.”

“Policies that make it harder to vote, without counter-balancing reforms to increase voter access, are a poison pill,” Slater said. 

With the House concurrent resolution, the measure could still become law if a majority of voters approve it. The resolution will likely make it through the House and Senate with GOP majorities, although the House did not vote on the measure Tuesday afternoon. 

“We don’t want the voters of Arizona to miss out on an opportunity to improve their election system,” said the sponsor of HCR2013, Rep. Alexander Kolodin, R-Scottsdale.

House Democrats attempted to implement their ideas to speed up election results with an offered amendment to HB2703 from Rep. Brian Garcia, D-Tempe, but Republicans voted against it. . 

Garcia’s amendment would still allow voters to drop off early ballots on Election Day by 7 p.m., but counties would be able to allow voters’ signatures to be corrected during the five business days after an election that includes a federal office and for three business days after any other election. 

“My amendment is voter-centered and responsibly works to speed up election results,” Garcia said.

Other provisions of the amendment include allowing two election workers to remove early ballots on election day to deliver them to a designated receiving site for tabulation and giving schools a choice in being used as a polling place.

“This is exactly what we should be doing. Putting power back into the hands of voters instead of trying to take it away,” said House Minority Leader Oscar De Los Santos, D-Laveen. 

Republicans opposed the amendment and said it counters their attempt to get election results more quickly. 

“(It) would extend the tabulation time; the voting time, and essentially remove all the good functions of the bill,” said House Federalism, Military Affairs and Elections Committee Chairman Rep. John Gillette, R-Kingman.

HCR2013 also includes other provisions that would require early mail voters to confirm their address with their county recorder’s office before every election cycle if they live in a county with a population of at least 500,000 or every four years if they live in a county with fewer than 500,000 people. County recorders could also provide on-site tabulation of early ballots during the early voting period.

“What the bill also will do is provide a more secure election system, but also a more convenient one,” Kolodin said. 

The resolution would also prohibit election officials from using foreign money services for election administration, but Arizona Association of Counties Executive Director Jen Marson said during a Jan 15 House ad Hoc Committee on Election Integrity and Florida-Style Voting Systems she wasn’t aware of any county that uses foreign money for election administration.