Rep. John Kavanagh explains election reform bills

Arizona Republicans are trying to pass a plethora of bills in the state senate, including voting bills and transgender sports bills. Republican Rep. John Kavanagh offers his perspective.

What are your thoughts on election audits and why are they necessary?

“We currently have random automatic recounts which are kind of like audits,” Kavanagh said. “I think the uncertainty and the controversy surrounding the last presidential election has a lot of constituents frankly concerned about election security. So I think it’s reasonable to … let them feel more comfortable about the election… if people think that there is fraud, they may be dissuaded to not only not trust the government but to not vote.”

Why would legislation convince those who are worried about fraud, when up to now they are not convinced?

“The audit obviously showed the type of counting mistakes weren’t there, because you know it came in pretty close. I think a good deal of the fraud circles on the early ballots. There’s a lot of concerns that these early ballots go out and people other than the recipient might  gets them. Maybe the person moved, or maybe the person died or the family member gets it. If a ballot comes in on someone in my family who moved or passed away, I can easily look at a paper or file and get their signature and vote for them. People are concerned about that. … Not all of the election reform we’re doing is based on the fraud let’s cure that. The close examination that the election controversy caused revealed a lot of problems with the system.”