Experts warn of election vulnerabilities in Arizona
Experts warn of election vulnerabilities in Arizona: intimidation near polling places, election official turnover, and insufficient knowledge by voters about election procedures
New “Election Overtime” platform provides legal briefs and speaker bureau to support factual, rapid reporting for Arizona journalists
PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Oct. 2, 2024) – To support Arizona journalists with the unique job of covering close and contested elections, The Election Reformers Network(ERN) and the Arizona Democracy Resilience Network convened a distinguished panel of seven election law authorities, elected officials, media experts, and others on September 30th to unveil Arizona-specific briefings that are a featured part of the “Election Overtime Project” – a set of resources including: litigation monitoring; guides for reporting on election transparency, verification processes, and judicial procedures; and an extensive speaker bureau to connect journalists with expert commentary for local and national coverage. The program focuses on Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
The event, “Journalists: Preparing for Arizona Election Overtime,” was the second in a series of media briefings designed to as Election Day approaches.
Don Henninger, former editor of the Arizona Republic, spoke of the incredibly important function of journalists in the democratic process. “The job that journalists do today has never been more important, and it’s never been more difficult,” said Henninger, a Republican and senior advisor to the Arizona Democracy Resilience Network. “The threat of violence that we face today is real.We’ve seen intimidation at the ballot drop boxes. We’ve seen a Democrat campaign office now shot at two weeks in a row. The most important tool to build trust in our elections and prevent political unrest is sound, accurate,and timely reporting.”
Former Congressman Ron Barber, a Democrat who represented Arizona’s 2nd and 8th Congressional districts, highlighted an inherent challenge Arizona will likely face due to the high turnover in county election offices.
“Because of the harassment surrounding recent elections, 12 out of 15 counties in Arizona have lost their election officials,” Congressman Barber said. “That means either the recorder who puts together their ballot or the election director who manages the elections, or in some instances both, resigned. And it’s because these people are sick and tired of being under threat. So, we’ve lost a lot of institutional knowledge that could have helped us prepared for 2024.”
Arizona State Senator Ken Bennett, who also served as Arizona’s Secretary of State from 2009 to 2014,offered insights into the realities of election administration. “Elections are not perfect because the people who run elections are not perfect,” said Senator Bennett. “Errors can be made, but they are usually unintentional, and they do not change the outcome of an election.”
Bennett recalled an extraordinary close election during his time in office, in which a state-wide ballot initiative lost by only 126 votes, triggering an automatic recount. The recount meant that “the results changed by 42 votes out of two million,” Sen. Bennett noted, highlighting the extraordinary accuracy in the election procedures, which recounts and audits serve to confirm.
Jackie Salit, president of IndependentVoting.org, emphasized the role independents play in elections. “Independents have chosen the last three presidents of the United States. They broke for Barack Obama by 8 points in 2008, for Donald Trump by 4 points in 2016, and by 13 points for the Biden-Harris ticket in 2020. In the last presidential election, 40 percent of the electorate in Arizona were independents. So, the expectation is that 2024 independent voter turnout will be key.”
Panelist Jenny Flynn, representing the Local News Fund of Southern Arizona, offered perspectives on her organization’s investments in newsrooms, wanting local news to provide information their audiences most need. She offered advice for journalists doing the difficult and complex job of covering close and contested elections. “I hope that the reporters will spread the word about the Election Overtime Project,” Flynn said. “Take advantage of the speaker’s bureau, the research resources, and the incredible folks on this panel.”
“As a journalist, you probably don’t have time to go through a 400-page election policy manual of procedures, regulations, and statutes when you’re on a deadline,” said ERN Vice President Heather Balas. “So, we talked with reporters about what they would most likely need to know and collected the most relevant legal details for close or contested races. We believe that sound news coverage of the election process – not just the horse race – is crucial to the future of our democratic republic. So, with humility, we offer our support to the hardworking election reporters of this nation.”
Two panelists, ERN Executive Director Kevin Johnson and Sen. Bennett, drew on sports metaphors in describing elections and recounts. “There’s a simple analogy behind this program: sports fans trust the final score win or lose, and part of the reason for that is they really know the rules,” said Johnson. “Wouldn’t it be great if America voters came to know as much about the rules of elections as 9-year-old sports fans know about the rules of football?”