PHOENIX — The Republican-controlled Arizona Senate voted Tuesday to require the state’s top election official not participate in overseeing elections in which he or she is on the ballot — leaving the proposal one vote away from heading to Democratic governor and former secretary of state Katie Hobbs’ desk.
The proposal by Rep. Rachel Jones, R-Tucson, has its roots in unfounded complaints by some losing Republican candidates in the 2022 election that Hobbs put her thumb on the scale for Democratic candidates while serving as secretary of state. Those who accused Hobbs of having a conflict of interest include losing governor’s candidate Kari Lake and Mark Finchem, who lost his bid to replace Hobbs as Arizona’s top election official, to Democrat Adrian Fontes.
All Democrats in the Senate voted against the measure on Tuesday, as did all House Democrats when House Bill 2308 passed out of that chamber in February, saying the proposal was prompted by baseless conspiracy theories.
