Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/208500
AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL Winter.13advo.indd 6 Protect Your Right to Vote Delivers 146,000 Signatures to Refer HB2305 to the Ballot The Protect Your Right to Vote Committee delivered approximately 146,000 petition signatures this fall to the Arizona Secretary of State to put the Arizona Legislature's attempt to get tough on Arizona voters to a vote of the people. The Arizona Education Association (AEA) and an unprecedented coalition of more than 25 non-profit civic engagement organizations joined together to stand up for Arizona voting rights and put House Bill 2305 on the November 2014 ballot. The Legislature passed the bill – which changed almost 20 separate areas of election law with virtually no public testimony – by a near party-line vote in June. "Voters will have their say after all," said Committee Chairwoman Julie Erfle. "It was wrong for career politicians to try and influence elections by putting up roadblocks for voters who might not agree with them and to make criminals out of dedicated campaign volunteers. As we gathered signatures, even in the heat of an Arizona summer and in the face of efforts to block our signature drive, we were inspired by the willingness of Arizonans to stand up for voting rights. We found strong support from voters of all political stripes, persuasions and backgrounds. That does not bode well for the authors and supporters of HB2305, including many Arizona legislators." AEA believes that HB2305 does nothing about voter fraud; rather, it limits the rights of legal voters. If it stands, HB2305 will limit our ability to hold politicians accountable for failing to support public education along with the following: •HB2305 would make it a crime for volunteers to collect and drop off ballots at the polls. These efforts help elderly, homebound, disabled, and working voters to participate in elections. •HB2305 would kick voters off the Permanent Early Voting List if they fail to vote in two consecutive elections – both primary and general. This would decrease participation and disproportionately impact newly registered Latino, young, and Independent voters who are not likely to vote if removed from this list. •HB2305 would keep third parties off the ballot by raising the signature requirement to put a candidate on the ballot for all political parties except Republicans. Ballot access for third party candidates will become unlikely, 6 Winter 2013/14 x AEA Advocate 11/4/13 3:23 PM