Grand Canyon Times

Arizona voters who customarily vote by mail will be removed from a list of those automatically receiving early ballots if they fail to vote in two election cycles, under legislation signed Tuesday by Gov. Doug Ducey. 

The bill, Senate Bill 1485, renames the Permanent Early Voting List (PEVL) the Active Early Voting List (AEVL).

“Arizona is a national leader when it comes to election integrity and access to the ballot box, and Senate Bill 1485 continues that legacy,” Ducey, a Republican, said in a statement explaining his support for the legislation. “In 1992 our state began offering the ability for Arizonans to vote an absentee ballot. Since then Arizona has continuously improved and refined our election laws⁠ – including intuitively renaming ‘absentee’ voting to ‘early’ voting⁠ – and is constantly seeking to strengthen the security and integrity of our elections."

Under the bill, election officials are required to send inactive voters a notice that they are about to be removed from the list of those automatically receiving ballots. Voters will have 90 days to respond if they would like to remain on the list. The new law does not affect a voter’s registration, and they are still permitted to vote in person if they are removed from the list.

Democratic lawmakers opposed the legislation saying it would create barriers to voting.

But the sponsor of the bill, Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita (R-Scottsdale) said at a recent news conference, “We’re not going to back down from something that’s reasonable, that is common sense and protects the integrity of our elections.”

The legislation was held up in April when Sen. Kelly Townsend (R-Mesa) refused to support the measure until she had reassurances that additional voter integrity bills would be taken up by the Senate

“What I didn’t want is for us to pass this bill, call it 'reform' and then go home,” Townsend said for an earlier story in the Grand Canyon Times.

She added that besides pushing for the passage of additional reform legislation, she opposes adjourning session until a forensics audit of nearly 2.1 million votes cast in November 2020 in Maricopa County is complete.

“My word stands for something, and I kept it,” she said.

She said that she did receive assurances that additional voter integrity measures will be considered.