Senate president discusses plans with election laws

Senate President Karen Fann joined us for an update on what is going on in the State Legislature! We talked about the vote to hold County officials in contempt and what is next. Fann talks about how they are “not about” overturning elections. Fann said that there are high percentages of Republicans in Arizona questioning the integrity of voting in Arizona. She said that is the reason they are doing this. Fann said The board of supervisors agreed with them about doing these audits in order to put trust back into our electoral system. She said that they are getting “ all jammed up“ but she doesn’t know why.  The board of supervisors has gone back-and-forth.  They plan to go forward with another “procedural move” which is to follow through and pass the resolution of contempt. She explains where they are at currently.

We asked why Republican lawmakers don’t trust and have confidence in the election process. Fann said in order to help them trust the election process, they need something to help prove to those questioning the election process, that it’s safe. She said they did see some irregularities happen, so if they can uncover those and answer their questions then people will hopefully trust the election process. Fann said she’s not comfortable telling people to just trust the system but she feels more comfortable proving it. She would like to get the answers in say “you deserve it.“ She is hoping to get between 90-95% of them to feel comfortable in the system. She knows that not everyone will be satisfied because there will always be people that doubt.

We also discussed the governor expanding gaming, renewing travel compacts, and sports gambling. Fann said there is a couple of bills going through. She said there is no one that is fully opposed to it but there are people on both sides of the aisle that are not comfortable signing on the bills that are tied to a gaming compact that none of them have seen. They have been briefed on it but they have not had the opportunity to see the gaming compact. Fann talked about the governor’s authority and what her thoughts are on that.