PHOENIX — Amid continued attacks on the freedom to vote, including anti-voter bills and the election review scam, the Election Advocacy Group, a working coalition of 24 Arizona and national voting rights advocacy groups, is urging each Arizona county to commit to adopting best practices on election procedures to ensure that the freedom to vote is protected.
In letters sent Thursday to every Arizona county recorder and elections director, the Election Advocacy Group requested information about practices for: provisional ballots, voter registration in jail, outreach to disenfranchised communities, preliminary election plans, consultation with tribes, on-reservation voting opportunities, tribal election workers, signature curing, vote counting, public feedback, and responding to public records requests.
“Before the next election, election officials must enact policies and best practices that will protect, not restrict, our right to vote in Arizona,” said Rosemary Avila, campaign manager for All Voting is Local Arizona, a member of the Election Advocacy Group. “Arizona counties must be responsive and transparent about their current procedures so that we can address barriers to the ballot before they happen.”
The group sent the letters as a follow-up to outreach to the counties earlier this year. The group met with or received written responses from officials in Apache, Coconino, Graham, Maricopa, Mohave, Pima, Pinal, Santa Cruz, Yavapai, and Yuma Counties, but did not receive a response from officials in Cochise, Gila, Greenlee, La Paz, and Navajo Counties.
An example of the letters can be found here.