Thanks To Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs, Arizonans Can Keep Expecting Delayed Election Results

In recent years, Arizona has gained a reputation for failing to provide voters with definitive election results on election night. And thanks to the latest move by Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs, that’s going to be the state’s reality for the foreseeable future.

On Tuesday, Hobbs vetoed legislation (HB 2703) passed by Arizona’s GOP-controlled legislature that sought to enhance election officials’ ability to deliver timely election results to voters. The measure cleared the state House and Senate in party-line votes last week, with Republicans supporting the bill and Democrats opposing.

Among the most notable changes proposed in HB 2703 is a provision moving up the deadline by which voters must return early ballots. As Arizona GOP Chair Gina Swoboda previously noted to The Federalist, Arizona’s late production of election results is largely due to an issue within current law, which allows voters to drop off their early mail ballots by 7 p.m. on Election Day.

In Arizona, all early ballot voters are required to provide their signature on the ballot envelope affidavit, which is then compared to the one in their registration records. Once election workers confirm the signatures match, the ballot is processed and tabulated.

The week of the Nov. 5, 2024 presidential election, election officials estimated Maricopa County alone received more than 200,000 early ballots from voting locations on Election Day. All of those Maricopa early ballots, as well as those returned on Election Day in other counties, were required to go through the aforementioned signature verification process — a review that took Maricopa County officials weeks to complete. (Read more from “Thanks To Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs, Arizonans Can Keep Expecting Delayed Election Results” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr