- An Arizona Republican introduced a bill that would allow the state legislature to decide presidential elections.
- Congresswoman Shawnna Bolick’s legislation would allow lawmakers to overturn the secretary of state’s certification of an election result.
- Bolick, who was re-elected in November, promoted false allegations about the 2020 elections.
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A leading Arizona Republican who promoted a debunked conspiracy theory about the 2020 election introduced a bill that would allow lawmakers to overturn the certification of the state’s top election official and effectively overturn the results of a future presidential election.
Representative Shawnna Bolick, a Republican from the Phoenix area, does not dispute her own re-election in November. But after Donald Trump lost his candidacy for another term, she tried to prevent voters from voting for the winner, President Joe Biden, despite the election having already been certified by the Arizona Secretary of State.
Bolick too promoted “Sharpiegate”, the false conspiracy theory that ballots were invalidated because voters gave Republican voters permanent markers instead of ballpoint pens.
Now the legislator, who chairs the Ways and Means Committee in the Chamber of Deputies, is seeking to give the legislature – strictly controlled by Republicans – the formal power to revoke the certified results of a presidential election.
In particular, HB 2720 states that the legislature “may revoke the Secretary of State’s issuance or certification of a presidential voter election certificate”. Notably, the bill would not give lawmakers the power to overturn the election results for the legislature itself.
Laurie Roberts, a columnist for the Arizona Republic, noted that the bill “would allow the legislature to ignore the state’s presidential election results and choose its own winner until such time as an elected president stands on the podium and puts his hand on the Bible.”
Ironically, the sponsor of the legislation is not known to strictly comply with electoral regulations.
In 2020, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that Bolick itself violated state law by failing to disclose its real home address in a lawsuit with election officials.
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