HB 2232
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ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Fifty-sixth Legislature
First Regular Session
House: MOE DPA/SE 5-4-0-1
HB 2232: elections; identification; revisions; mail-in; tabulation.
S/E: elections; mail-in; identification; revisions
Sponsor: Representative Harris, LD 13
Caucus & COW
Summary of the Strike-Everything Amendment to HB 2232
Overview
Amends the sections of statute related to the conduct of elections.
History
Early Voting
The County Recorder or officer in charge of elections can begin mailing out early ballots 27 days
before the election. An early election board can tabulate early ballots as soon as they are
received. In Arizona, mailed early ballots must be received by the County Recorder or officer in
charge of elections no later than 5:00 pm 11 days before the election (A.R.S. § 16-542).
A voter may also choose to vote early in person at an on-site early voting location established by
the County Recorder. To vote early in person, an individual must present valid identification and
must cast the ballot issued at that voting location (A.R.S. §§ 16-246, 16-542)
Identification Requirements
Prior to receiving a ballot at a polling place, an individual must present some form of acceptable
identification. Valid identification includes federal, state and local government issued
identification, such as an Arizona driver license or a United States Passport and is deemed valid
unless expired. If the address on the form of identification does not reasonably match the address
in the precinct register, the identification must be accompanied by at least two different items that
contain the name and address of the elector, such as a valid Arizona vehicle registration and a
utility bill (A.R.S. § 16-579).
Voting Locations
A county Board of Supervisors may establish voting centers in addition to or in lieu of precinct-
based polling places. Polling places are specifically designated locations within election precincts
where voters who reside in that precinct must vote. Voting centers are locations within a county
where individuals can vote regardless of the person's designated election precinct (A.R.S. § 16-
411)
Voting Equipment
Arizona law allows for votes to be cast, recorded and counted by voting or marking devices and
vote tabulating equipment. A voting device is an apparatus that the voter uses to record the
voter's votes by marking a paper ballot, which votes are subsequently counted by electronic
tabulating equipment. Electronic tabulating equipment refers to an apparatus necessary to
automatically examine and count votes as designated on ballots and tabulate the results (A.R.S.
§§ 16-443, 16-444). HB 2232
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Hand Count Audits
county election officers are required to conduct a hand count of a sample of ballots to test the
accuracy of the vote tabulation equipment if there is participation from the county political parties.
Those counties that conduct the hand count are required by law to report the results to the
Secretary of State (A.R.S. § 16-602).
Provisions
Polling Places
1. Prohibits the Board of Supervisors from establishing a precinct that contains more than 1,500
registered voters. (Sec. 11)
2. Clarifies the Board of Supervisors must establish a reasonable number of polling places in
each precinct. (Sec. 11)
3. Prohibits the Board of Supervisors from authorizing the use of voting centers. (Sec. 11)
4. Repeals the sections of statute concerning voting centers. (Sec. 11)
5. Specifies the Board of Supervisors is prohibited from changing a polling place unless the
voters in that precinct are notified by mail at least two years in advance. (Sec. 11)
6. Repeals statute allowing for the consolidation of polling places in specified circumstances.
(Sec. 11)
7. Repeals statute allowing the principal of a school to deny a request to provide space for use
as a polling place. (Sec. 11)
8. Requires the Board of Supervisors to use public schools and governmental offices as polling
places whenever possible. (Sec. 11)
9. Asserts school district governing boards, principles and managers of governmental offices
must allow their sites to be used as polling places if requested. (Sec. 11)
10. Revises the criteria for which a County Recorder or officer in charge of elections may establish
an emergency polling place to include only acts of God that render a previously set polling
place as unusable. (Sec. 11)
Prohibition on Electronic Voting Devices
11. Allows for the use of machines or devices only if they cannot access the internet and are used
solely to comply with accessibility requirements. (Sec. 12)
12. Prohibits the Secretary of State from approving the general use of electronic voting machines
and electronic tabulating machines unless required to comply with accessibility requirements.
(Sec. 12, 13 and 14)
13. Requires, except for circumstances involving compliance with accessibility requirements, that
all state, county, city and town elections be conducted using paper ballots and ballots be
tabulated by hand. (Sec. 14)
14. Requires all electronic voting machines and electronic tabulating machines to be:
a) The same make and model;
b) Uniform in compliance, language and capabilities; and
c) Owned by the office of the Secretary of State and used in agreement with counties and
other election jurisdictions. (Sec. 12)
15. Directs the Secretary of State to revoke the certification or prohibit, for a period of five years,
the purchase of any voting system or device in specified circumstances. (Sec. 12) HB 2232
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16. Repeals the section of statute concerning the filing of computer election programs with the
Secretary of State. (Sec. 13)
17. Allows for the use of electronic tabulating systems for the tabulation of absentee ballots only.
(Sec. 19)
18. Repeals the sections of statute concerning the acquisition, cost and rules of vote tabulating
devices. (Sec. 20)
19. Repeals the sections of statute concerning the form of ballots and the use of antifraud ballot
paper. (Sec. 20)
20. Repeals definitions and language concerning elections where electronic tabulating devices
are used. (Sec. 15)
21. Establishes the minimum requirements for ballot paper used in primary and general elections.
(Sec. 23)
Mandatory Hand Count
22. Prohibits the Board of Supervisors from authorizing the use of electronic or other tabulating
equipment. (Sec. 34)
23. Specifies ballots must be organized and remain separated by precinct both before and after
counting. (Sec. 34)
24. Repeals statute concerning the procedure for hand counting ballots. (Sec. 33)
25. Removes statute allowing for the duplication of ballots and electronic vote adjudication. (Sec.
34)
26. Repeals language concerning the procedure for a court ordered recount of ballots if the votes
were cast and tabulated on electronic voting equipment. (Sec. 35)
27. Repeals the section of statute that allows for the recount of votes by automatic tabulating
system. (Sec. 36)
Mail-in and Early Voting
28. Repeals the provisions of statute concerning mail-in voting. (Sec. 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 21 and
27)
29. Repeals statute allowing candidates, political committees and other organizations to distribute
early ballot forms to voters. (Sec. 27)
30. Repeals the section of statute concerning the Active Early Voter List. (Sec. 28)
31. Requires, for votes to be counted and valid, early ballots must be received by the County
Recorder or officer in charge off elections no later than three days before election day. (Sec.
30)
32. Requires all early votes to be counted on election day before 7:00 pm. (Sec. 30)
33. States the results of the early vote tally may not be released until after 8:00 pm on election
day. (Sec. 30)
Absentee Voting
34. Prohibits a voter from voting by an absentee ballot, unless they meet any of the following
criteria:
a) The voter expects to be outside Arizona at the time of the election;
b) The voter is physically unable to go to the polls because the voter is hospitalized or in a
nursing home; HB 2232
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c) The voter is visually impaired; or
d) The voter qualifies for an absentee ballot under UOCAVA. (Sec. 26)
35. Requires, when a voter is applying to vote absentee, that the voter specify one of the approved
reasons for voting absentee. (Sec. 27)
36. Outlies the required text that must be printed on an affidavit that accompanies an absentee
ballot. (Sec. 29)
Primary and General Election Requirements
37. Asserts a voter may not receive or vote a ballot unless the voter has presented valid state-
issued identification. (Sec. 3)
38. Stipulates that all voting must occur on election day and all ballots must be cast in person at
the voter's designated election precinct polling place unless the voter qualifies for an absentee
ballot. (Sec. 3)
39. Requires all ballots to be counted by hand and canvassed and the returns made within 24
hours after the closing of the polls. (Sec. 3)
40. Specifies the County Recorder is only responsible for providing an adequate number and type
of ballots, pens, tables and other equipment as necessary for polling places and directs the
county Board of Supervisors to perform or supervise all other election related duties. (Sec.
10)
Prohibitions
41. Prohibits the ranking of candidates in any manner, other than with a single vote for one
candidate for each office to be filled. (Sec. 10)
42. Prohibits the Board of Supervisors, County Recorder or officer in charge of elections from
requiring a voter, board worker or any other person:
a) Wear a facial mask at a polling place or other voting or tabulating location; or
b) Be vaccinated against or tested for a virus as a condition of entering a polling place or
other voting or tabulating location. (Sec. 5)
Civil and Criminal Penalties
43. Includes, in the classification of an authorized person who fails to return completed registration
materials, a class 2 misdemeanor, a person or nongovernmental organization that receives
blank voter registration forms from the Secretary of State, County Recorder or other
authorized election official. (Sec. 2)
44. Establishes a civil penalty of $50,000 for nongovernmental organizations that fail to timely
return completed registration materials that are timely received from a registrant. (Sec. 2)
45. Specifies a nongovernmental organization is subject to a civil penalty of $1,500 for each
unlawfully altered voter registration form it returns, regardless of whether the form was
unlawfully altered by an employee, contractor or volunteer of that organization. (Sec. 2)
46. Increases, from a class 3 felony to a class 2 felony, the penalty for a person who knowingly
substitutes or tampers with ballot tabulations or election results by electronic means. (Sec.
37)
47. Includes a person who knowingly removes a ballot from an on-site voting location as guilty of
a class 2 misdemeanor. (Sec. 39)
Miscellaneous
48. Repeals the definition of instructions and procedures manual. (Sec. 15) HB 2232
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49. Allows one representative of a political party that was appointed by the chairman of that
political party to be allowed to remain within the seventy-five-foot limit for purposes of making
challenges, regardless of whether that political party is represented on the ballot. (Sec. 25)
50. Repeals language concerning the seventy-five-foot limit and its application to minors voting in
simulated elections. (Sec. 25)
51. Contains a conforming legislation clause. (Sec. 40)
52. Makes technical and conforming changes.
Amendments
Committee on Municipal Oversight & Elections
1. Decreases, from 1,500 to 1,000, the number of registered voters authorized per precinct.
2. Repeals language that allows for the tabulation of absentee ballots by electronic tabulation
devices.
☐ Prop 105 (45 votes) ☐ Prop 108 (40 votes) ☐ Emergency (40 votes) ☐ Fiscal Note