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Radical Arizona Ballot Measure Aims To Eliminate 15-Week Abortion Ban

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Arizona voters will soon decide on Proposition 139, a proposed amendment that would enshrine the right to abortion throughout pregnancy in the state constitution. This measure, backed by a coalition including the ACLU of Arizona, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, and NARAL Arizona, aims to eliminate the current 15-week abortion restriction.

If passed, Proposition 139 would declare that “every individual has a fundamental right to abortion” and would limit state interference with this right. It specifies that the state cannot deny or restrict access to abortion before fetal viability unless there is a compelling state interest achieved by the least restrictive means. Additionally, after fetal viability, abortions would still be permitted if deemed necessary by a healthcare professional for the life or health of the pregnant individual.

Currently, Arizona law restricts abortions after 15 weeks, with exceptions for the life of the mother and serious medical emergencies. This law was recently complicated when the Arizona Supreme Court allowed an 1864 near-total abortion ban to take effect, though Governor Katie Hobbs signed a bill to repeal it shortly after.

Opponents of Proposition 139, including Arizona Right to Life, argue that the amendment could undermine parental consent laws, allowing minors to obtain abortions without parental knowledge. They also raise concerns about potential exploitation of vulnerable individuals, particularly given Arizona’s status as a border state.

The measure requires a simple majority to pass in the upcoming election.

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Arizona Ballot Box Set on Fire, Disrupting Voting Process Two Weeks Before Election

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An Arizona ballot box was set on fire, damaging the twenty electoral ballots and disrupting the voting process.

The Phoenix Fire Department responded to a call at 1:30 a.m. on Thursday after someone lit a ballot box containing mail-in ballots. The ballots ruined in the fire were sent to the postal inspector for investigation. Investigators also collected surveillance video from the scene and sent it to the Phoenix Fire Investigations Task Force.

“The Postal Inspector took possession of the damaged ballots and mail,” explained Phoenix Fire Capt. Rob McDade. “The Phoenix Fire Investigations Task Force, which includes Phoenix Police detectives and Phoenix Fire investigators, are working with US Postal Inspectors. Approximately 20 electoral ballots were damaged, along with additional miscellaneous mail. The Postal Inspector took possession of the damaged ballots and mail.”

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego confirmed that the suspect has been arrested and identified as 35-year-old Dieter Bradford Klofkorn. She suggested that the incident was random and not politically motivated.

“Klofkorn was located and arrested for an outstanding and unrelated arrest warrant. While in custody, he was interviewed about his involvement in the arson. Klofkorn admitted to committing the arson,” the police report stated. “Klofkorn stated that he committed the arson because he wanted to be arrested and that his actions were not politically motivated and not related to anything involving the upcoming election.” (Read more from “Arizona Ballot Box Set on Fire, Disrupting Voting Process Two Weeks Before Election” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

Arizona Supreme Court Green-Lights Ranked-Choice Voting Ballot Initiative Riddled With Duplicate Signatures

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On Friday, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that votes cast for a pro-ranked-choice voting constitutional amendment in the 2024 election will count — even though nearly 38,000 signatures supporting the amendment proposal were duplicates.

In its decision, the Grand Canyon State’s high court rejected a challenge seeking to have votes cast for Proposition 140 voided after a lower court special master disclosed that 37,657 pairs of signatures gathered in support of the measure were duplicates. As previously argued by the Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AZFEC), the finding “place[s] Proposition 140 thousands of signatures under the constitutionally required signature threshold to qualify for the [November] ballot.”

Prop 140 would amend the Arizona Constitution by implementing an open primary system in which candidates of all parties run in the same primary. It also paves the way for the state to potentially adopt ranked-choice voting (RCV) for general elections.

Under an RCV system, voters are asked to rank candidates of all parties in order of preference. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of first-choice votes in the first round of voting, the last-place finisher is eliminated, and his votes are reallocated to the voter’s second-choice candidate. This process continues until one candidate receives a majority of votes.

As The Federalist previously reported, the Arizona Supreme Court allowed a signature challenge to Prop 140 filed by several residents to move forward on Aug. 23. The high court stated that if it were determined that enough invalid signatures existed to disqualify the initiative from appearing on the November ballot, the trial court “should issue an injunction precluding any votes for the measure from being counted,” as the state had already started printing ballots. The court issued a subsequent ruling on Sept. 16 vacating that statement and permitting the initiative’s supporters to make their arguments in the trial court that Arizona courts lack jurisdiction to remedy such a solution. (Read more from “Arizona Supreme Court Green-Lights Ranked-Choice Voting Ballot Initiative Riddled With Duplicate Signatures” HERE)

Bombshell Lawsuit: Arizona’s Elections Chief Is Hiding Info on 218K Voters Lacking Proof of Citizenship

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Arizona’s Democrat elections chief is illegally withholding the identities of approximately 218,000 registered voters on the state’s voter rolls who lack documentary proof of citizenship (DPOC), a lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges.

Brought by the Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona (SCFA) against Democrat Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and the Arizona Department of State, the legal challenge “seeks to restore public trust in [Arionza’s] electoral system by ensuring transparency about the Defendants’ failures to ensure that registered voters have provided DPOC, as required by law.” The group is represented by America First Legal and a law firm spearheaded by former Arizona Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Wright.

The lawsuit addresses an issue that first came to light last month, in which Arizona election officials announced they discovered approximately 98,000 registered “full-ballot” voters who have not provided documentary proof of citizenship required to participate in state and local elections. The error appears to have resulted “from the way the Motor Vehicle Division provides driver’s license information to the state’s voter registration system,” according to Votebeat Arizona.

Fontes said most of the affected voters are registered Republicans, according to the outlet.

In Arizona, voters registering via state registration form must show DPOC to vote in state and local races. Individuals who are unable to provide such documentation are registered as “federal-only” voters and can only cast ballots in federal races. (Read more from “Bombshell Lawsuit: Arizona’s Elections Chief Is Hiding Info on 218K Voters Lacking Proof of Citizenship” HERE)

Oops! Arizona Discovers An Additional 120K Registered Voters Lacking Proof Of Citizenship

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Arizona’s Democrat elections chief announced on Monday that the state has found 120,000 additional registered voters lacking documentary proof of citizenship (DPOC), bringing the estimated total of such voters to 218,000.

“Today, the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office released additional information about a new set of approximately 120,000 Arizonans who may be affected by a data coding oversight within [Arizona Department of Transporation’s] Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) and Arizona voter registration databases — individuals who have lived in the state for decades and have attested under penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens,” the office of Democrat Secretary of State Adrian Fontes revealed in a press release.

As my colleague Brianna Lyman previously reported, the issue originally came to light last month when state officials revealed they “found approximately 97,000 voters who are currently listed as full-ballot voters despite having not fulfilled the requirement to provide documentary proof of citizenship to vote in statewide elections.” The error appears to have resulted “from the way the Motor Vehicle Division provides driver’s license information to the state’s voter registration system,” according to left-wing Votebeat Arizona.

Fontes said most of the affected voters are registered Republicans, according to the outlet.

In Arizona, voters registering via state registration form must show documentary proof of citizenship (DPOC) to vote in state and local races. Individuals who are unable to provide such documentation are registered as “federal-only” voters and can only cast ballots in federal races. (Read more from “Oops! Arizona Discovers An Additional 120K Registered Voters Lacking Proof Of Citizenship” HERE)

Arizona Supreme Court Rules 98,000 People Whose Citizenship Is Unconfirmed Can Vote in Pivotal Election

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Nearly 98,000 people whose U.S. citizenship has not been confirmed will be allowed to vote in the upcoming state and local elections, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Friday.

The ruling came after a “coding oversight” in state software prompted the swing state’s Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes to insist that he would send out ballots to those affected anyway.

The database error called into question the citizenship status of 100,000 registered Arizona voters, affecting individuals who obtained their driver’s licenses before October 1996, and subsequently received duplicates before registering to vote after 2004.

Fontes and Stephen Richer, the Republican Maricopa County recorder, disagreed on what status the voters should hold following the “coding oversight.”

“This was discovered not because somebody was voting illegally and not because somebody was attempting to vote illegally, as far as we can tell,” Fontes said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference. “And this was basic voter roll maintenance, and it showed us that there is this issue.” (Read more from “Arizona Supreme Court Rules 98,000 People Whose Citizenship Is Unconfirmed Can Vote in Pivotal Election” HERE)

Arizona Officials Suddenly Discover 97,000 Registered Voters May Not Have Provided Proof of Citizenship After All

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This week, Arizona officials announced that nearly 100,000 registered voters may not be able to vote in state and local elections this November after they may not have provided proof of U.S. citizenship as required by state law.

The apparent “flaw” in the voter registration process in Arizona was discovered last week, Maricopa County recorder Stephen Richer said in lengthy X post on Tuesday, even though it had been around for decades.

The issue involves a complicated nexus of state and federal law and rules governing an Arizona driver’s license.

Arizona has a unique system by which prospective voters in federal elections may register using a federal form that does not require documented proof of citizenship. Documentation is required, however, for those casting ballots in state and local elections.

Since 1996, those wishing to obtain a standard Arizona driver’s license have had to show proof of U.S. citizenship. Green-card holders are given an alternate license. (Read more from “Arizona Officials Suddenly Discover 97,000 Registered Voters May Not Have Provided Proof of Citizenship After All” HERE)

Arizona Cardinals Ripped for Forcing Woman to Throw MAGA Hat in Trash Before Entering Stadium

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The Arizona Cardinals are taking heat for forcing a season ticket holder to throw away her MAGA hat to get into State Farm Stadium last weekend.

Susan Rosener, who has owned season tickets for 34 years, told KPNX-TV that on Sunday, stadium security flagged her down and told her she could not enter the facility with her “Make America Great Again” hat.

Rosener said the security officials told her that political gear is not allowed in the stadium.

The long-time fan said she asked the security worker why the hat was prohibited.

“She’s like, ‘no political hats or shirts.’ And I said I haven’t heard that at all. And I said that doesn’t make sense to me. And she goes, ‘I said, Take your hat off,’” Rosener told the station.

(Read more from “Arizona Cardinals Ripped for Forcing Woman to Throw MAGA Hat in Trash Before Entering Stadium” HERE)

U.S. City Now Faces Serious Music for Arresting Woman Who Criticized Government Official

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The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression has filed a lawsuit against the city of Surprise, Arizona, and several officials after the mayor decided his policy of not allowing residents to offer any criticism of city officials overruled the U.S. Constitution at council meetings.

WND reported earlier when Mayor Skip Hall ordered resident Rebekah Massie arrested for her speech during a portion of a government meeting set aside for residents’ concerns.

She was opposed to a city decision to give its lawyer even more money.

“I have concerns with allocating the more funds to him specifically for a few different reasons,” she explained. Her public records requests are under “review” regarding the actions of lawyer Robert Wingo, already one of the highest paid city officials in the Phoenix region at $265,000.

Hall threatened that she wasn’t allowed to make such comments. (Read more from “U.S. City Now Faces Serious Music for Arresting Woman Who Criticized Government Official” HERE)

Arizona Governor Hobbs ‘Unlawfully’ Changed Election Rules: Lawsuit

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The Republican Party of Arizona filed a lawsuit against Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs (D) on Thursday, claiming that two of her executive orders “unlawfully” and “unilaterally” altered the state’s existing election laws.

Arizona GOP chair Gina Swoboda sued Hobbs over Executive Order 23, Authorizing the Use of State Facilities as Voting Locations, and Executive Order 25, Facilitating Voter Registration.

Hobbs issued the orders in November 2023. Executive Order 23 designated the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections and the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry, as well as other state-run agencies, as ballot drop-off locations. Executive Order 25 designated those state departments as “Voter Registration Assistance Agencies” that are to “distribute voter registration forms, assist applicants in completing voter registration forms, and accept completed voter registration forms.”

According to the lawsuit, Hobbs “exceeded, and is therefore unlawfully exercising, her authority as Governor, in issuing EO 23 and EO 25.” It argued that both executive actions are “unconstitutional and void.”

“Petitioners seek to enjoin Governor Hobbs from enforcing EO 23 and EO 25 on the grounds they exceed the powers granted her by the Arizona Constitution and Arizona statutes, violate the separation of powers regarding the Legislature’s authority to enact election laws; and usurp the powers lawfully granted to the Secretary of State regarding the designation of Voter Registration Agencies and county recorders regarding ballot drop-off locations,” the complaint read. “EO 23 and EO 25 are contrary to law because, in issuing these executive orders, the Governor usurped the authority of the Legislature by unilaterally changed duly-enacted election laws.” (Read more from “Arizona Governor Hobbs ‘Unlawfully’ Changed Election Rules: Lawsuit” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr