1. United States
2. Ariz.
3. Letter

I urge you to oppose House Concurrent Resolution 2001, which would impose severe restrictions on Arizona's voting system under the guise of faster election results. This measure would eliminate critical voting access for hundreds of thousands of Arizonans while solving a manufactured problem. HCR2001 would eliminate approximately 200,000 "late early" ballots by cutting off drop-offs at 7 p.m. the Friday before Election Day, preventing voters from using drop boxes on the weekend or Election Day itself. This disproportionately impacts working families who rely on weekend flexibility to return their ballots. The resolution would also dismantle Arizona's automatic early voting list, forcing millions of voters to request mail-in ballots for every single election despite roughly 70% of Arizona voters casting early ballots in any given election. The concurrent ID requirement creates impossible compliance standards for mail-in voters with no implementation guidelines provided. This vague language particularly threatens tribal communities. Sen. Theresa Hatathlie testified that many tribal members lack birth certificates needed for state-issued IDs, sharing that her 67-year-old sister has been trying to obtain a birth certificate for 15 years. Gail Hunnicutt of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation and Jen Marson of the Arizona Association of Counties both raised serious concerns about how voters could possibly comply with this requirement. Rep. Alexander Kolodin claims an "overwhelming" majority of voters want these changes but has repeatedly refused to share the poll or identify who conducted it. Independent polling does not support his assertions. House Minority Leader Oscar De Los Santos noted that Kari Lake ran on similar election fraud claims twice and lost both times, against Gov. Katie Hobbs in 2022 and Sen. Ruben Gallego in 2024. Arizona has averaged 13 days to post final results over 18 years. This timeline only became controversial when Democrats started winning statewide races. Making voting harder for hundreds of thousands of Arizonans to shave a few days off counting is an unacceptable trade-off. I ask you to vote no on HCR2001 and protect Arizona voters' access to the ballot.