Why is Arizona’s chief election administrator, responsible for the smooth operation of November’s presidential election, in need of a bodyguard?
“It’s very sad,” Fontes said. “It’s a sad state of affairs that in a civil society, in one of the most advanced civilizations that anybody could have imagined, we have to worry about physical violence.”
". . .Since the advent of Trump, the Arizona Republican party has moved relentlessly to the right, with the Freedom Caucus accumulating power while moderate Republicans have been driven out.
- The Freedom Caucus is umbilically linked to Turning Point Action, the political arm of Turning Point USA which is based in Phoenix. The group, under the leadership of the pro-Trump activist Charlie Kirk, has catalyzed the party’s rightward march.
- Before he entered the legislature, Hoffman was head of communications for Turning Point USA. The group’s chief operating officer, Tyler Bowyer, is a close ally of Hoffman’s and also represents Arizona on the Republican National Committee.
According to Public Wise, 12 of the 16 Republicans in the Arizona senate have participated in election denialism or other acts that undermine confidence in democracy. Of the 32 Republican state lawmakers listed on the election threats index, almost half have introduced anti-democratic legislation and 84% have voted for it.
Recent bills proposed by far-right lawmakers include:
- House Bill (HB) 2472 which would make it easier to challenge election results in court, removing legal hurdles that led to Lake and Hamadeh’s lawsuits being dismissed for lack of evidence;
- Senate Bill (SB) 1471 and HB 2722 which would promote hand counts of all ballots, a key demand of election deniers who claim without proof that vote-counting equipment is rigged;
- HB 2415 which would strip Arizonans from the early voter list whenever they failed to vote.
Of all the recent moves from Republican lawmakers, the most striking has been SCR 1014, a senate resolution introduced in January by Kern. It rehashes a highly dubious judicial doctrine championed by Trump’s lawyer John Eastman in the buildup to the January 6 insurrection.
The “independent state legislature theory” claims that the US constitution gives state legislatures – as opposed to individual voters – the power to choose who becomes next president. “The Legislature, and no other official, shall appoint presidential electors in accordance with the US Constitution,” Kern’s resolution bluntly states.
Sonny Borrelli, the majority leader of the Arizona senate and a fellow Freedom Caucus member, was willing to talk. . ."
The “independent state legislature theory” claims that the US constitution gives state legislatures – as opposed to individual voters – the power to choose who becomes next president. “The Legislature, and no other official, shall appoint presidential electors in accordance with the US Constitution,” Kern’s resolution bluntly states.
- SCR 1014 has no chance of becoming law – it would require a majority of Arizonans to back the idea in a ballot initiative, which in effect would be asking the state’s 4 million registered voters to disenfranchise themselves.
- But the resolution does lay down a road map of the Freedom Caucus’s intentions.
Sonny Borrelli, the majority leader of the Arizona senate and a fellow Freedom Caucus member, was willing to talk. . ."
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