The Daily Signal - ‘Keep Your Hands Off Our Elections,’ Arizona State Lawmaker Tells HR 1 Backers

Episode Date: April 15, 2021

Arizona just became the first state to formally oppose the Democrat-backed federal election overhaul bill known as HR 1 or S 1 now before Congress.  Arizona state Rep. Jake Hoffman joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to explain why he spearheaded Arizona’s resolution opposing the For the People Act. Hoffman also discusses a new Arizona law that prevents private individuals or organizations from giving money to state election boards or officials. By passing the bill, "Arizona has put up a big sign that says Arizona's elections are not for sale," he says. We also cover these stories: President Joe Biden says parts of the country are “backsliding” into the Jim Crow days. The Minnesota police officer who shot and killed 20-year-old Daunte Wright, a black man, will be charged with second-degree manslaughter.  The House Democratic majority now stands at 218 to 212 following the swearing in of Republican Rep. Julia Letlow of Louisiana. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Thursday, April 15th. I'm Rachel D. Judas. And I'm Virginia Allen. Arizona just became the first state to formally oppose the Democrat-backed voting bill known as H.R.1 or S-1. Arizona State Representative Jake Hoffman joins me on the show to explain why he spearheaded Arizona's resolution to oppose H.R.1. Representative Hoffman also discusses a new bill passed by the Arizona State Legislature which prevents private individuals or organizations from giving money to state election boards or officials. And don't forget, if you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure to leave a review or a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Now on to our top news.

President Joe Biden says parts of the country are backsliding into Jim Crow days. Here's what he had to say via MRC TV. Parts of our country are backsliding into the days of Jim Crow days. Jim Crow, passing laws that harken back to the era of poll taxes when black people were made to guess how many beans, how many jelly beans in a jar, or count the number of bubbles in a bar of soap before they could cast their ballot. The police officer who shot and killed 20-year-old Dante Wright, a black man, is to be charged with second-degree manslaughter. In an email to USA Today, attorney Pete Orput said the former Brooklyn Center Minnesota officer Kim Potter would be charged. Potter was arrested on Wednesday morning. The officer shot Dante Wright during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center on Sunday.

It appears that Potter meant to use her taser but accidentally fired her gun, striking right in the chest. If Potter is found guilty of second-degree manslaughter, she could face up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine, according to Minnesota law. The House Democratic margin has narrowed to just two votes following the swearing in of Republican Representative Julia Letlow of Louisiana. Letlow won the seat during a special election in March that was first won by her husband, Luke Lettlo, who died in September of COVID-19. Republicans now have 212 House seats and Democrats have 218.

South Dakota Governor Christy Noem says her state will not be. be taking in any illegal immigrants. In a tweet Wednesday, Noam wrote, South Dakota won't be taking any illegal immigrants that the Biden administration wants to relocate. My message to illegal immigrants, call me when you're an American. Nome's tweet comes shortly after South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster issued an executive order that the state will not accept unaccompanied migrant children into South Carolina's foster care system or group homes. Hundreds of corporations and celebrities have publicly voiced opposition to any discriminatory legislation on voting. This comes after corporations like General Motors, Ford, Coca-Cola, and Major League Baseball have come out criticizing election laws passed in states like Georgia and Arizona.

The statement of the corporations and celebrities first reported by the Times reads, We stand for democracy. We should all feel a responsibility to defend the right to vote and to oppose any discrequent. discriminatory legislation or measures that restrict or prevent any eligible voter from having an equal and fair opportunity to cast a ballot. Signatories include celebrities such as Michael Bloomberg and Warren Buffett and corporations such as Amazon, Apple, American Airlines, Bank of America, Facebook, Netflix, Target, Twitter, and dozens of others. Now stay tuned for my conversation with Arizona State Representative Jake Hoffman as we discuss state election integrity. We're all guilty of it, spending too much time watching silly videos on the internet. But it's

2021. Maybe it's time for a change. At the Heritage Foundation YouTube channel, you'll find videos that both entertain and educate, including virtual events featuring the biggest names in American politics, original explainers and documentaries, and heritage experts diving deep on topics like election integrity, China, and other threats to our democracy. All brought to you by the nation's most broadly supported Public Policy Research Institute. Start watching now at heritage.org slash YouTube. And don't forget to subscribe and share. I am joined by Arizona State Representative Jake Hoffman.

Representative, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. Arizona is taking bold steps on election. integrity. And Representative Hoffman, you are really on the forefront of this effort. The Arizona State Legislature passed a bill that prevents private individuals or organizations from giving money to state election boards or officials. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has signed this bill into law. Could you explain why you think this is such an important step to ensuring the integrity of Arizona's elections? Absolutely. So look, election integrity is shaping up to

be the civil rights issue of our time. Whether we wanted it to be or not, it simply is. And this specific bill deals with a very concerning trend that we saw in 2020. It was the first of its kind. In 2020, we had many firsts, obviously, right, from lockdowns to coronavirus, etc. But when it comes to elections, this was the first time that we ever saw big tech billionaires, and really billionaires of any kind, investing hundreds of millions of dollars, almost half, a billion with a B, to be exact, into the administration and management of local county elections departments all across the country and state secretaries of state all across the country. And that includes millions upon millions of dollars right here into Arizona.

And that's a very concerning trend, not only because of the perception that it puts on the elections. But, you know, the influence, we've heard for the last four years from the Democrats, now I disagree with their, with their narrative entirely. But for the last four years, we heard about the insidiousness of influence in our elections. Now, they obviously were claiming Russian interference and Russian influence, which is patently false. But in this case, it's demonstrable, provable, provable influence in our elections process and in the management of our elections. And that simply is a bridge too far. So with House Bill 2569, the Arizona legislature and with Governor Ducey's signature, the state of Arizona has put up a big sign that says Arizona's elections are not

for sale. We believe that they should be accountable to the people who are elected to steward them, to manage them, and who have the constitutional authority to do so. And they should be free of any influence from outside of the state or, quite frankly, the private sector period. So you mentioned some of those large donations last year Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. He and his wife donated 400 million to nonprofits that then turned around and distributed grants to a number of election officials. But now under this new law in Arizona, that's no longer allowed. So why do you feel like this is such an important step? Well, you know, look, we took a very measured approach in terms of the bill prohibits accepting or expending private monies for the management and

administration of elections. And that is, like I said, it's an important step because imagine if you had a privately funded court system and imagine the influence that the funder of that court system would have on the execution of justice. Well, the same principle rolls over into elections. It's a foundational and cornerstone element of our republic and of and of our our form of government. And to have that type of influence in the process is simply something that Arizonans don't want. And quite frankly, this should be a bipartisan issue. It wasn't here. It was sadly a partisan line. It was a 31-29 vote in the House and a 16-14 in the Senate. But I really believe that if we step back and when we look at what the majority of Americans and the majority of Arizona's

want. They want an election system that's full of integrity, that they can have confidence in, and that they don't have to worry about is being swayed by outside forces. So I really think this should be a bipartisan effort across the country. So what is your response to people that would argue that this bill is not fair because people and organizations should be able to give money to who and to what they support? Well, quite honestly, I would pose the counter question that would you like to be judged by a judge and a jury that is funded by a single individual? Let's say you've been accused of a crime and would you like to have that type of influence weighing in on the execution of justice in a case that you were involved in, right? And I'm sure that the answer would be no.

And look, the same holds true as we talk about elections. We simply don't want anyone to influence. And this is not an attack on the, it was specifically Democrat billionaires in this case. This isn't an attack on them. I would have run this bill if it had been Republican billionaires that did the same thing. This is whether it's Republican or Democrat sent to millionaires or billionaires or independents, it doesn't matter. This is about ensuring that our voters have confidence in the process. So let's chat a little bit about another action that we've seen.

Arizona State Legislature take. So just earlier this month, Arizona became the first state to formally oppose the voting bill known as H.R. 1 or S1. And H.R.1 is a Democrat-backed piece of election legislation. Explain why you and the Arizona State Legislature oppose H.R. 1. Yeah. I appreciate you bringing this issue up. So we did. We passed House Concurrent Resolution, 23, that I authored. And, you know, HR1 and S1, or as I like to call the corrupt Politicians Act, is arguably the most dangerous piece of legislation to come out of Washington, D.C., in at least my lifetime, if not multiple generations. It is patently Democrats' attempt to put their finger on the scales and rig America's electoral system in their favor. Arizona stands resoundingly against and has stood up to fiercely oppose this effort.

the people of Arizona want the constitutional authority delegated to our legislature to have control over the management of our elections and the way that we, you know, prescribed the process for how elections go. We've, you know, we took a few years back. We took a step to ban ballot harvesting. It's a very dangerous elections practice. It undermines the integrity of the election. And Arizona took this step proactively because of the evidence. because of the data and we banned it. Well, HR1 would allow, it would essentially federalize permissibility of ballot harvesting. People would be allowed to go door to door and round up as many ballots as they could possibly get their hands on and then turn them in. And what you do is you lose the confidence in whether or not those ballots have been filled out by the actual voter, whether or not there was any coercion in the process of collecting them, them, whether or not there were any incentives given in the process of collecting them.

Well, Arizona already banned that. Well, the feds, the Democrats in D.C., with H.R.1 and S1, are trying to come in and usurp our authority to outlaw that bad practice. You know, another thing that Arizona's don't want, they don't want taxpayer-funded campaigns for federal office. And moreover, they especially don't want those candidates to be able to pull in up to $600,000 salary off. of those taxpayer-funded campaigns. The people of Arizona do not want automatic and mandatory voter registration. They do not want extended periods of mail-in voting. They do not want mass mailing of ballots to every voter on the rolls. All of these provisions are contained within

H.R. 1 and S-1. And quite frankly, it is an infringement on all of our states, all 50 states constitutional authority to manage and control their elections. And Arizona said no. So you have spearheaded this effort on this resolution to oppose HR1 or S1. What message do you hope this resolution sends to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the other Democrats in Washington who are promoting HR1? Honestly, I hope it sends the message to keep your hands off of our elections. Democrats in D.C. and quite frankly, D.C. in general, When it comes to the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate, it's not an extremely well-run organization. That's why its approval ratings with the American people are down below 25 percent,

dipping recently as low as, I believe, 15 to 17 percent. That's not exactly a job well done. And so, D.C. needs to focus on cleaning up its own house. D.C. needs to focus on ensuring that there's ethics and integrity in the process of legislating. D.C. needs to ensure that they're balancing our federal budget, that we're not continuing to spend trillions upon trillions upon trillions of dollars. I mean, imagine that just this year, just since the new administration took over, we've added more to the national debt than arguably since Reagan, you know, the last 30 years combined, right? DC has a lot of work to do. What they don't need to be doing is spending their time trying to tell us how to do our job.

Do you foresee that other states will follow suit after Arizona and pass a similar resolution opposing HR1? Yeah, I have been in contact, actually, with lawmakers, I believe, in Alabama and Georgia, who have considered the similar resolutions, and I believe introduced them as well. So this is something that I'm willing to share the resolution with absolutely anyone. This is an important issue that needs to be, states need to reclaim their voice. This is a federalist form of government, and the states have the role to stand up and say what they do and do not want. Representative, you have several other election reform bills that are still pending in the state Senate. Could you just take a minute and tell us about these other pieces of legislation and how they would affect Arizona's elections?

Yeah, happy to. So I have 2792, which is making its way through the Senate right now. So that's House Bill 2792. And that bill would prohibit the mass mailing of ballots to voters that did not request a mail-in ballot. Now, it actually goes one step further, and it adds a provision of a class five felony for violating this statute. Now, why a class five felony? Look, the people of Arizona and the American people more broadly are sick and tired of the double standard in politics where elected officials get away with virtually anything that they want.

with no repercussions. And the reality is that if we have a county recorder that decides to go rogue and willfully and intentionally violate the law and mass mail ballots to every voter on the voter rolls, regardless of whether they requested one under the legal and lawful process, there deserves to be a consequence and it deserves to be a hefty one because they've now called into question the integrity of the election for all of the other counties that played by the rules for, followed the law and did it the right way. Now, Arizona, of course, was a major battleground state in 2020.

How do you think the general election went in 2020, and do you want to see anything within the election process go differently in 2022? It's a great question. So I'm very proud of Senator Warren Peterson and Senate President Karen Fan in the Arizona Senate for continuing to stay focused on ensuring that there is an audit. of the vote that happened in Maricopa County. Maricopa County, obviously, our largest county with the lion's share of the vote statewide. It is imperative.

You cannot make good informed decisions moving forward if you don't have a real analysis and a deep dive on what occurred, if anything, in the prior election. I do think that, you know, our state was close enough, and there were some irregularities that warrant the audit that they're doing. And so I commend them for doing that. That said, what do I think needs to happen moving forward into 2022 and 2024? Look, we need to consider ballot security. And so that means not only ballot tracking and the ability to determine precinct level,

essentially audit by precinct of those ballots, but also that means that the paper that ballots are printed on. You know, imagine we currently in this country, we have security paper for our home titles, right? We have security paper for our car titles. We have security paper for our money. But yet for our ballots, one of the most important documents that an individual has, we don't have ballot security paper. And so I think that's a very important issue moving forward. I also think that ensuring that we have clean and accurate voter rolls,

one, so that we reduce administrative costs on county recorders so that they aren't having to frivolously and unnecessarily send ballots to, people who haven't ever voted or haven't voted in years and years, I think that's important, as well as ensuring that we have an effective process so that all dead people, all people who have moved out of a particular county, and all people who have moved out of a particular state are removed and the voter rolls are clean and accurate for the conducting of our elections. I think unfortunately a lot of Americans lost some measure of confidence in our elections after 2020. What is your message to the people of your state and even all Americans who are feeling discouraged about our election integrity?

Well, it's a very real issue. Voter confidence, you know, according to multiple studies, Rector's University, had a study. And there have been others peer research and whatnot. voter confidence has reached all-time lows. It's a very concerning trend. And so I think there's a couple of things. One, your legislators, especially in states like Arizona, we are on it. We are working hard to ensure that the process is clean and accurate moving forward.

But, you know, our nation is, it's the greatest country on earth. And we have people and we have a diverse. finely inspired form of government in our founding documents and that our founders put in place that has survived longer than than any other, you know, modern society. It is, it is positioned from a governance perspective to always rise to the level, to always rise to the occasion and ensure that the will of the people is being put forth. And I think that's what we're seeing, you know, Georgia, Texas, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, you have lots of states right now that are all stepping up to the plate to make sure that they are fixing the elections process, putting in the

safeguards that are necessary for voters to have confidence in the process. And I think we're going to see a much better system in place come 2022 and 2024. And I can tell you that here in Arizona, Republicans will not rest until all voters, independence, Democrats, Republicans alike, are able to have confidence in the outcome and the process of our elections. Representative Hoffman, thank you so much for your time today. We really appreciate you joining the show. Absolutely. Thank you for having me. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks for listening to the Daily Signal podcast. You can find the Daily Signal podcast on Google Play, Apple Podcast.

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