Grand Canyon Times

Nationwide Republican-led election law changes have drawn fire from Democrats as needlessly restrictive, including a statement from New Hampshire state Rep. Chris Pappas (D-Dover), who derided the measures – including legislation in Arizona – as forms of voter suppression.

In May, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed controversial legislation that he said would uphold the integrity of elections, protect Arizona voters and simplify the voting process. 

Under Senate Bill 1485, Arizona voters currently on the list to automatically receive early ballots will be removed from the list if they have not returned an early ballot within the previous four years and fail to respond to a final notice asking if they still want to receive early ballots.

“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 wrote in support of the bill. “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 constantly seeking to strengthen the security and integrity of our elections.” 

Democrats have condemned the bill as part of an ongoing attempt at voter suppression, estimating that nearly 150,000 voters will be removed from the lists for early ballots, NBC News reported. Democrats say the bill particularly affects voters from rural areas, disabled voters, seniors, voters of color and Native American voters residing on tribal lands.

“It says everything you need to know when a political party, using the lies they created about the last election, undertakes a nationwide effort to restrict voting access,” Pappas said in a Mar. 26 Twitter post regarding the GOP's nationwide efforts to change voting laws. “'We the People' means all the people, and laws like this tear at the fabric of our democracy.”

Conservatives say that the New Hampshire congressman's allegations of voter suppression are questionable in light of New Hampshire's own voting policies, which in some ways are even more restrictive than those of Arizona. For example, New Hampshire currently does not allow early voting under any circumstances, according to Ballotpedia. 

According to the Arizona Clean Elections Commission, Arizona begins in-person early voting 27 days before election day, which is longer than the national average.

Ballotpedia reports that New Hampshire does not permit no-excuse absentee voting. Rather, the state requires a valid reason a voter will not cast a ballot in person, such as being out of town, observing a religious commitment, being physically disabled, unable to leave work or fulfilling a military obligation.

Unlike New Hampshire, Arizona allows for no-excuse absentee voting, according to Vote 411. New Hampshire also does not allow automatic voter registration and allows for same-day registration.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, both New Hampshire and Arizona are among 36 states that require voters to show some form of photo identification at the polls. An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll shows that of 1,115 adults, 79% of respondents believe voters should be required to show government-issued photo identification.