ATLANTA — Yesterday, in a bipartisan vote, the Arizona state House voted to defeat anti-voter SB 1713, authored by Republican state Sen. JD Mesnard. The bill would have disproportionately harmed eligible Arizonans who already face the greatest barriers to voting, including Latino and Indigenous voters, seniors, and voters with low incomes.
SB 1713 would have created additional barriers to early voting in addition to adding burdensome and new ID requirements that could have resulted in countless Arizona voters’ ballots not being counted.
Republicans in the Arizona state legislature kicked off the 2021 session by introducing at least two dozen bills attacking the freedom to vote—all part of a coordinated, nationwide effort by the Republican Party to stifle the political power of voters of color who turned out in historic numbers in 2020. In 2021 alone, more than 400 anti-voter bills have been introduced in state legislatures across the country.
Fair Fight Action Voter Protection Director Liza Conrad issued the following statement:
“Fair Fight Action applauds the Arizona state legislators—Democrats and Republicans—who stood on the right side of both history and democracy by voting to defeat SB 1713. This bill was yet another desperate and transparent attempt by anti-voter Republican lawmakers to defy the will of the people and cling onto power by any means necessary.
The defeat of SB 1713 should send a clear signal throughout Arizona and across the country that it’s time for Republicans who support anti-voter bills to take a long and hard look in the mirror. Their decision to make attacking Arizonans’ freedom to vote the top legislative priority in 2021 reflects an increasingly extreme Republican Party hellbent on capitulating to conspiracy theorists, even at the expense of our democracy. We’re grateful to the groups on the ground in Arizona for their tireless work to block this latest effort to disenfranchise the voters of color who voted in record numbers in 2020.”