Last Week This Morning: GOP tries to make voting as inconvenient as possible

GOP lawmakers try to make voting as inconvenient as possible. Last week, Republican lawmakers passed HB2876, which would all but ban mail-in voting and eliminate the convenience of county-wide voting centers, limiting Arizonans to only one designated polling place. Notably, early voting by mail was introduced decades ago by Arizona Republicans and is extremely popular – nearly 90% of Arizonans who participated in the 2020 election voted by mail. But after Republican losses, Donald Trump and his MAGA supporters began to spread conspiracy theories that have inspired anti-voter legislation like this, putting an unnecessary burden on Arizonans to serve their political agenda.

 

Rep. Ciscomani voted for anti-immigrant impeachment effort. Led by MAGA Speaker Mike Johnson, House Republicans suffered a narrow defeat in their attempt to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Rep. Juan Ciscomani was one of 214 Republicans to support the effort fueled by baseless accusations and dangerous rhetoric. Despite warnings over its impact on national security, extremist Republicans used the impeachment to push white nationalist and antisemitic conspiracy theories that endanger our communities and have real-world consequences.

 

Americans do not support abortion bans, but the anti-abortion movement is using bad polling to deny this reality to conservative lawmakers anyway.

“After all, anti-abortion groups can’t afford to admit that their mission is unpopular, especially right now. Owning up to the reality of how Americans feel about abortion rights in an election year would be catastrophic: It would mean watching Republicans retreat from the extreme policies they worked to implement for decades. These organizations and activists finally overturned Roe—they’re not about to back off now, no matter how voters feel about abortion.” – Jessica Valenti in Abortion, Every Day

 

 

Republican lawmakers silence Arizonans who oppose their bills.Arizonans deserve to be respectfully heard when giving public testimony on legislation. Instead, lawmakers like Sen. Jake Hoffman have undemocratically kicked multiple members of the public out of committee hearings, one of the few opportunities Arizonans have to voice their input, for disagreeing with them.

Erin Reed corrects anti-trans disinformation. The New York Times recently published another irresponsible article that is full of debunked disinformation about transgender care. Get the fact check here. 

 

Stop SB1070 2.0. Happening Monday at the Arizona Legislature, the Appropriations Committee will be hearing another version of the “SB 1070 2.0” bill that is deeply rooted in racism and xenophobia. The package of bills will lead to the crippling of many major industries, major civil rights violations, and an increase in violence toward immigrant communities in Arizona. Join us Monday to stand up to hateful rhetoric and fight against HCR 2060 and the package of “SB 1070 2.0” bills.

 

Register to vote. The deadline to register for the Presidential Preference Election is Tuesday, February 20th. Update your voter registration here.

Help qualified applicants become U.S. Citizens. Volunteer at Mi Familia Vota’s Citizenship Fair on Saturday, March 2nd. Register for training and sign up here.