Senate President clarifies voting ballot bills’ misconceptions

We talked with Republican Senate President Karen Fann. She represents District 1. We discussed what is going on in the legislature. We ask Fann about access to election ballots. She said she thinks there is a misconception about what is going on. She said they have people advocating to just mail out ballots to everybody whether they want them or not. On the other side of the aisle, there are members that believe that The ballot is secret and should be secure. She said we should make sure that the people voting are the people that can legally vote and are alive. Fann said many of the proposals going through right now is to secure them a little bit better. She said they have a good system right now but she said they also have affidavits where ballots were mailed to vacant lots. We ask why these bills are a good thing. The Senate president said she doesn’t agree with all of them and some of them are a little bit over the top. She does think it is important to make sure that the person that is legally registered to vote to gets their ballot and gets to vote. She believes it is important for elections to be true and honest without mishaps.

We ask why cutting the time allowed to send ballots by five days is being considered. She said it is because the members are trying to close the loopholes. She said some of them are good ideas and some of them are not. We ask if this is happening because Trump did not win the state. Fann said this has been going on for a while and so it has nothing to do with what went on in the past two. Said this has been going on for a while and so it has nothing to do with what went on in the past two years. She responds to people calling them voter suppression bills and why she thinks this term is not accurate. We ask why it is important to mess with the voting system when it is supposedly strong and accurate right now. She said it is because it is not fully secure and they are trying to make it even more secure. She said the ballots to go to an empty lot, if there is someone there to get them, no one knows what they do with them. Lastly, we ask if a forensics audit is still needed for Maricopa County mail-in ballots. She said “absolutely” because she is getting hundreds and hundreds of emails every day about how people don’t trust the system anymore. She believes if there are that many people that have questions about the system, it is their duty to get those answers for them.