- A Arizona Republican has filed a bill that would allow the legislature to decide to run presidential elections.
- Rep. Shawnna Bolick’s legislation will allow lawmakers to block the Secretary of State’s certification of an election result.
- Bolick, who was re-elected in November, promoted false allegations about the 2020 election.
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A leading Arizona Republican who promoted a disgruntled conspiracy theory over the 2020 election has introduced a bill that would allow lawmakers to replace the certification of the state’s top election official and the outcome of a future presidential election effectively. overthrow.
Rep. Shawnna Bolick, a Republican in Phoenix, is not contesting her own re-election in November. But after Donald Trump lost his bid for another term, he wanted voters to cast their ballots for the winner, President Joe Biden, despite the election already certified by the Arizona Secretary of State.
Bolick too promote ‘Sharpiegate’, the false conspiracy theory that ballot papers are invalid because voters gave Republican voters permanent markers instead of ballpoint pens.
Now the legislature, which chairs the Ways & Means committee in the State House, wants to give the legislature, which is narrowly controlled by Republicans, the formal power to revoke the certified result of a presidential election.
In particular, HB 2720 states that the legislature can “revoke the issuance or certification of the election certificate of a presidential voter”. The bill will not give legislators the power to reverse the outcome of elections for the legislature itself.
Laurie Roberts, a columnist for the Republic of Arizona, noted that the bill would allow the legislature to ignore the outcome of the state’s presidential election results and choose its own winner until an elected president steps on the podium and his hand on the Bible. ‘
Ironically, the guarantor of the legislation is not himself known for adhering strictly to the electoral regulations.
In 2020, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that Bolick herself violated state law when she did not disclose her real home address in an application to election officials.
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