It would be much easier for Arizona’s legislature to try to overturn the results of a presidential election under a bill introduced by a key Republican in the statehouse this week.
The legislation would give state legislators the authority, by a majority vote, to “revoke” the state certification of the presidential election in the state. Such a subversion of the democratic process was exactly what President Trump was pushing for in Arizona and other battleground states that elected Joe Biden.
Trump’s maneuverings — which included arm twisting state legislators and pressuring election officials to make bogus claims about fraud — were ultimately not successful. State Republican legislative leaders in states like Pennsylvania said that they did not believe they had the authority to do what Trump was seeking, which was to reject the Biden electors from the state and put forward Trump electors instead.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) was attacked by Trump for certifying Biden’s win there.
The new Arizona bill — which was introduced by state Rep. Shawnna Bolick, the chair of the Ways and Means committee — would create a glide path for executing a Trump-like scheme for overturning the state’s election results. It says that the vote on revoking the certification of the results could happen anytime before the inauguration and does not require any rationale for undoing the certification.
“The legislature may take action pursuant to this subsection without any regard to whether the legislature is in regular or special session or has held committee or other hearings on the matter,” the bill says.
