PHOENIX (CN) — Arizona’s Senate Elections Committee moved to support a handful of bills that would increase public access to voter records, though Democrats say the measures would lead to safety concerns by publishing personal voter information.
The elections committee, chaired by Flagstaff Republican Wendy Rogers, voted 4-2 to pass two bills that Republicans say will increase transparency. Senate Bill 1038 would require a county recorder to make publicly available the full, unredacted vote cast record after an election. Senate Bill 1040 would require the full, unredacted voter registration roll to be made downloadable via an internet portal.
In July, a state judge ruled that full vote cast records are not public recordsaccording to current law.
“This just adds to the opportunity for transparency,” bill sponsor Mark Finchem of Phoenix said while voting in favor of SB1038. “It offers the opportunity for people to check their own ballot.”
The bill requires the recorder to make the vote cast records public within one hour of the polls closing and transmit the file to the secretary of state within 48 hours of the final canvass.
Democratic state Senator Lauren Kuby of Scottsdale said the file would be too big to share so quickly.
“It’s absurd, and it can’t possibly be done,” she said to the committee.
The bill also mandates that full names, voter identification numbers and political party registrations be included with each cast vote. Kuby said she worries making that information public will encourage independent actors to “track down voters” and harass them before the ballots are cured and the results are certified.
Arizona Republicans sent an identical bill to the governor’s office last year, but Democrat Katie Hobbs vetoed it.
“Just because a bill got vetoed last year doesn’t mean we’re not gonna run it again and again and again,” state Senator Rogers said. “We’re going to continue to bring up those issues because the people want us to represent them.”
Arizona’s voter roll, a list of all registered voters in the state, is already available via public records request, albeit with sensitive personal information redacted. Finchem’s SB1040 would remove those redaction requirements and make publicly available personal voter information, including Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers and mothers’ maiden names.
“I have serious security concerns,” Kuby said, voting against the bill.
Like the previous bill, Finchem said the measure is about transparency. He added that because no lobbyists from the Arizona Association of Counties came to speak against the bill, he assumes the coalition of governments has no objections.
Kuby clarified that the association hasn’t yet conducted its first meeting of the year, in which it would conduct its own votes on all pending bills relating to county governance.
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