Florida GOP Chairman Evan Power mocked Arizona Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs on Thursday for vetoing a bill that aimed to speed up ballot counting in the state.
"Arizona had the chance to have Florida’s gold standard of election laws, but radical Democrat Katie Hobbs vetoed it," Power said. Why would you be opposed to quickly and accurately counting votes."
Among its provisions, SB 2703 would have allowed Arizonians to drop off their mail-in ballots at an early voting location the Friday before Election Day in Maricopa County. Maricopa County is Arizona's largest county by population and the fourth largest in the United States.
It also is often critical in determining the outcome of Arizona's election races. For context, Maricopa County has a larger population by far than any of the state's other 14 counties combined.
Arizona has an overall state population of about 7.5 million.
On the flip side, Gov. Ron DeSantis and the State of Florida have prioritized election integrity in recent years. The state also has 67 counties and a population of over 23 million.
"Today, I vetoed HB 2703. While I too want faster election results, the solution should not needlessly restrict Arizona citizens' freedom to vote, or undermine the learning and safety of students in public school districts. This legislation effectively ends the Active Early Voting List, something that has nothing to do with faster election results, but disenfranchises voters by adding additional steps for the hundreds of thousands of Arizona voters who prefer to vote by mail," Hobbs said.
Notably, Arizona has a GOP-controlled Legislature in both chambers.
"Governor Hobbs and Democrat legislators continue to block reforms aimed at ensuring timely and transparent election results. If they won’t act, we will—letting Arizona voters have the final say," Arizona Speaker of the House Steve Montenegro said.
Just last November, ballots in Arizona were still being counted days after election day. In Maricopa County, about 20% of ballots were still unaccounted for three days after the general election on Nov. 5.
