HB 2497
Initials AF/JH Page 1 Senate Engrossed
ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Fifty-sixth Legislature
Second Regular Session
House: APPROP DPA/SE 16-0-0-1 | 3
rd
Read: 59-0-1-0
Senate: ELEC DPA/SE 7-0-1-0 | 3
rd
Read: 30-0-0-0
HB 2497: technical correction; joint school district
NOW: judicial offices; petitions; electronic signatures
Sponsor: Representative Bliss, LD 1
Senate Engrossed
The House Engrossed version of HB 2497 requires the Arizona Department of Education
(ADE) to review each requirement for ADE or public schools to report to the Legislature
and recommend consolidating or eliminating duplicative and obsolete reports.
The Senate adopted a strike-everything amendment that does the following:
Overview
Authorizes judicial offices and candidates for clerk of the superior court to collect up to 125%
of the total number of required nomination petitions through E-Qual.
History
Statute requires candidates to submit a minimum number of nomination petition signatures
to the appropriate filing officer at least 120 days before the election. A candidate for superior
court judge, for instance, must submit at least 1% but not more than 10% of the qualified
signers in the county or district. Candidates for superior court judge in counties with a
population of 200,000 persons or more, however, must submit at least ¼ of 1% but not more
than 10% of the total number of qualified signers in the county or district (A.R.S. §§ 16-314,
16-322).
Laws 2014, Chapter 45 directed the Secretary of State to establish a system to allow voters
to sign nomination petitions for statewide and legislative candidates through a secure online
portal. The Secretary of State subsequently implemented the E-Qual system. In 2016, the
legislature passed a law that expanded, beginning in 2017, the use of E-Qual to allow
candidates for local offices to collect up to the minimum number of required nomination
petition signatures through the secure internet portal (A.R.S. § 16-317).
Provisions
1. Directs the Secretary of State to provide a system for qualified electors to sign nomination
petitions for candidates for the office of clerk of the superior court and judicial offices that
require nominating petitions by way of a secure internet portal. (Sec. 1)
2. Specifies the system must only allow qualified electors who are eligible to sign a petition
for a particular candidate to sign the petition. (Sec. 1)
☐ Prop 105 (45 votes) ☐ Prop 108 (40 votes) ☐ Emergency (40 votes) ☐ Fiscal Note HB 2497
Initials AF/JH Page 2 Senate Engrossed
3. Requires the system to provide a method for properly verifying qualified electors
identities. (Sec. 1)
4. Authorizes a candidate for judicial office or clerk of the superior court to collect up to 125%
of the total number of required nomination petitions through the system outlined above.
(Sec. 1)