Play the video above to see these stories on AZ Illustrated Politics for Friday, Aug. 2, with guests Jeff Rogers, former chairman of the Pima County Democratic Party; Barrett Marson, CEO of Marson Media; Ann-Eve Pedersen, president of the Arizona Education Parent Network:
ON THE CHANGES TO EARLY VOTING: Marson said the changes to early voting rules, which included making it a crime for political campaigns to gather and turn in early ballots, were designed to make the system more secure and efficient. But Rogers said supporters of the law could not point to any instances of fraud and were pushing the changes to reduce voting by Democrats and Latinos.
ON THE CHANGES TO INITIATIVE CAMPAIGNS: The new law requires strict compliance with state law when collecting signatures for initiatives and recalls. Marson said laws should be followed to the letter, but Pedersen said that minor technical errors, such as missing staples, should not result in the rejection of petitions. She also suggested the change might be a violation of the Arizona Constitution.
ON THE CHANGES FOR THIRD-PARTY CANDIDATES: The new law raises the signature requirements for Greens and Libertarians to make the ballot. Marson said current requirements, calling for a a few dozen signatures for candidates to make a congressional ballot and even fewer for legislative campaigns, are absurdly low. Rogers said the current requirements may be too low, but the new law makes them much too high.
AZ Illustrated Politics is produced by Jim Nintzel. Contact him at jnintzel@azpm.org.
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