Voters poised to reject GOP bid to reshape elections and endanger voting by mail

The opposition to Proposition 144, which would make significant changes to Arizona’s elections via amendments to the state constitution, declared victory Tuesday evening after initial election results were posted by the Arizona Secretary of State. 

As of 6 a.m. Wednesday, voters were rejecting the proposition by about 6.5 percentage points, about half of what it had been Tuesday night when opponents claimed they had defeated it. The Associated Press hasn’t yet called the outcome of the race.

“I was very concerned going into tonight,” Randy Keating, chairman of No on 144, said during the Arizona Democratic Party’s election night watch party in Phoenix. 

Opponents were surprised by the victory since polling indicated that the proposition would pass. 

“We are going to carry the day and we are going to defend vote by mail,” he said. 

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Prop. 144 was referred to the ballot by Republicans in the state legislature to bypass an inevitable veto from Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs. 

Proponents of Proposition 144, like the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, say that it would make Arizona’s elections more fast, accurate, secure, and transparent, dubbing it the FAST Act. But critics, including numerous voting rights groups, say it’s unlikely to significantly speed up results — and it could spell the end of no-excuse voting by mail, by far the most popular way to vote in the Grand Canyon State. 

Prop. 144 would make numerous amendments to the state constitution, and the most impactful provision would require voters who cast a ballot by mail to provide state-issued identification every time they vote. But the ballot measure doesn’t include specifics about what kind of identification voters would have to provide or how they would do it, leaving that up to the Arizona Legislature. 

That would mean the party that controls the legislature next year would be tasked with writing the rules on how mail voters provide ID. 

Republicans have controlled the state legislature almost exclusively for 60 years and voted for a bill in 2024 that would have effectively banned no-excuse early voting.

The mail-in voter ID requirement is nestled in Prop. 144 alongside much more popular provisions, like limiting registering to vote and voting to citizens. Those already exist in state law and the Arizona Constitution, and have since Arizona became a state in 1912.

Currently, voters are required to prove their citizenship when they register to vote and to provide ID when they vote in person. 

Those who vote by mail sign an affidavit on the green early ballot envelopes confirming that they’re registered to vote in that county and haven’t voted elsewhere. Violators can face perjury charges.

The state lawmaker who sponsored the legislation that became Prop. 144, Rep. Alexander Kolodin, is a member of the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus whose record as an attorney and a state legislator are replete with unfounded claims about Arizona’s elections. 

Kolodin is also the Republican nominee challenging incumbent Democrat Adrian Fontes to be the state’s top elections official. After early results were posted on election night, Kolodin was losing to Fontes by 17 points. 

For more than two years, Kolodin, a Scottsdale Republican, has been pushing legislation to make Arizona’s elections more like Florida’s in the name of “election integrity” and boosting trust in elections. The final version of Prop. 144 is a significantly pared down version of that legislation. 

Kolodin has backed changes to Arizona election laws that are inspired by conspiracy theories, including banning no-excuse vote-by-mail and returning to voting in tiny precincts, which election officials said was logistically impossible. 

The proponents of Prop. 144 say it would speed up election results, something that many election-denier politicians say have made Arizona a “national laughingstock,” with final results typically posted about 13 days after the election. 

A significant factor slowing the results are the roughly 250,000 “late early” mail-in ballots dropped off on Election Day and the preceding weekend. Signature verification of those ballots can be time-consuming, and proponents of Prop. 144 say that its requirement for all counties to allow voters to bring their ID to a polling place and watch their ballot be tabulated would speed things up, eliminating the need to signature-verify those ballots. 

But how much that provision would speed up election results depends on how many people use it. Maricopa County provided that option to voters during the July primary election. Just 23,400 out of more than 677,000 voters who cast a ballot in that election in Maricopa County used that option, about 3.5% of voters.

The tabulation provision would also be costly for counties, many of which don’t currently have tabulators at all of their polling locations.

Prop. 144 would also prohibit foreign nationals from spending money to influence state elections. They are already barred from giving to candidates, but can give money to other political committees, including ballot measure campaigns. 

Additionally, the FAST Act would create a new, tougher standard for challenging election laws enacted by the state legislature.

“This is one of the greatest political longshot victories in Arizona history,” Keating said in the victory statement. “It is a loud and unmistakable message that limiting how and where eligible voters can cast their ballot, in a blatant attempt to manipulate outcomes, will not be tolerated.”

Contributing reporting by the Arizona Mirror’s Jerod MacDonald-Evoy.

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• November 4, 20266:26 amThis story has been updated to reflect current vote tallies