Arizona House Minority Leader Chad Campbell, D-Phoenix (District 14), announced that he will introduce legislation to create a bipartisan election reform study committee. Since the Nov. 6 general election, in which voters cast an unprecedented number of provisional ballots and reported statewide irregularities, Campbell has reached out to Arizona leaders to create this committee.
“Arizonans deserve real answers about what happened during this election,” Campbell said. “We need to know what caused the irregularities. We must find ways to protect the voting process and ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
Earlier this month, Campbell contacted Gov. Jan Brewer, Secretary of State Ken Bennett, Speaker Andy Tobin, R-Paulden (District 1), newly elected Senate President Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert (District 22), and newly elected Senate Minority Leader Leah Landrum Taylor, D-Phoenix (District 16), to urge the formation of the study committee.
“I didn’t get a response from the Republican leadership,” Campbell said. “We can’t put this off; it’s too important. That’s why I am working on legislation that will require a bipartisan investigation of this and past elections. This is about accountability.”
The legislation would create an election reform study committee consisting of:
- Bipartisan members of the Arizona House of Representatives and Arizona Senate
- A person appointed by the Secretary of State’s Office
- The Maricopa County recorder
- The Pima County director of elections
Among its obligations, the committee would be required to investigate past general and primary elections. It would submit a report to the Legislature by March 1, 2013 that would identify problems and would include proposed corrective legislation.
“It’s in everyone’s best interest that we work together on this,” Campbell said.
Copies of the draft legislation are available on request. Send requests to cmhebert@azleg.gov.
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