State News

At 2 pm today, the Senate Government Committee will hold a hearing on SB1069, a bill introduced by State Senator Michelle Ugenti-Rita that would purge hundreds of thousands of people from the permanent vote by mail list. The bill is one of a series of voter suppression bills currently under consideration by the Arizona state legislature. In response to the proposed bills, a coalition of Arizona community organizations and voting rights groups issued the following statement:

For Aklima Khondoker, Georgia state director for All Voting is Local, Raffensperger’s actions have been continuously trending toward focusing on his own political survival instead of prioritizing voters and a fair process. “These two versions are at odds,” said Khondoker. “In one version, Raffensperger is committed to rejecting political fodder, while in the other, he signals a call to his base.”

Khondoker challenged the inconsistencies within Raffensperger’s approach to the current election cycle even after he unequivocally condemned the worst of allegations. “We hear that our elections were conducted fairly, honestly and free from fraud,” Khondoker told Truthout. “Raffensperger is fueling suspicions about our elections by opening baseless investigations that serve to weaken the integrity of our elections for political gain.”

“The hope I have is that it will show that our election workers have worked diligently and hard through this entire election, that they have been checking signatures as ballots are received and they’ve been matched,” said Aklima Khondoker, Georgia director for All Voting is Local, an organization that advocates for greater voting access.

Aklima Khondoker, Georgia state director for All Voting is Local, agrees that making voting harder is not the answer to easing election workers’ burden. “The solution must be to support the workers that are doing this work so they can continue to do it (and) voters can continue to enjoy access to the ballot,” she says, adding that means hiring more poll workers and instituting more robust training.

Aklima Khondoker, Georgia state director of All Voting Is Local, worked with other nonprofits including the Coalition for the People’s Agenda and Black Voters Matter to organize brigades of volunteers to hang voting literature on the doorknobs of state residents in areas where high-speed internet is scarce.

“Anytime you have invitations going out from leadership, you’re going to run into potential inequities, especially not only the nonprofit, advocacy-oriented lobby corps, but also the public,” Brad Ashwell, Florida state director of All Voting is Local, said in a phone interview. “A lot of constituency groups bus up members during session.”

Logistics could also pose a problem, Ashwell said. Lobbyists could find it difficult to attend a House committee meeting in the Capitol shortly before or after making a virtual appearance at a Senate panel from the civic center.

“This disconnect between what the House and Senate are doing is concerning to me. They need to be on the same page,” Ashwell said.