Arizona State Senate Committee Approves Voter ID Bill as Part of Voter Suppression Blitz
February 16, 2021
Contact: Emily Kirkland, emily@progressarizona.org, 646 623 5271
Arizona State Senate Committee Approves Voter ID Bill as Part of Voter Suppression Blitz
Yesterday evening, an Arizona State Senate committee approved SB1713, a drastic new voter ID law that adds onerous requirements to the vote by mail process. Among other measures, the bill would require voters who lack a driver’s license or state ID to make photocopies of documents and submit them along with their completed ballots. Hundreds of thousands of voters are likely to be affected. This is a burden that is likely to fall disproportionately on the elderly, the poor, people of color, people with disabilities and students.
The bill is likely to go to the State Senate floor within the next few weeks and from there to the State House of Representatives.
SB1713 joins more than 40 voter suppression and anti-democracy proposals currently being considered by the Arizona state legislature, including bills to eliminate or restrict voting by mail, impede voter registration, gut the grassroots ballot initiative process, criminalize protest, and give the state legislature the power to override the voters’ choice in presidential elections.
Many of these bills are moving quickly through the legislative process – SB1069, which would purge 100,000+ people from the vote by mail list, is likely to go to a floor vote in the State Senate today.
These proposals come just weeks after an armed attack on the U.S. Capitol that attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 election. That attack was sparked by lies about voter fraud in the 2020 election, lies which multiple sitting Arizona federal and state lawmakers helped to spread.
In response, Arizona community organizations and voting rights groups issued the following statement: “This is a five alarm fire: the State Senate has unleashed a full-on assault on our democratic ideals and institutions. We are determined to stop these bills, and we ask every Arizonan to join us in fighting to protect the future of our democracy. Our lawmakers have a responsibility to protect our sacred right to vote–they must reject SB1713 and all other anti-voter measures. ”