Arizona Politics

State Representative Keshel Praises Trump Executive Order on Election Integrity

State Representative Rachel Keshel (R-17) issued a statement praising President Donald Trump's late March executive order demanding election integrity, saying, "This Executive Order is exactly what this country needs."

As Cactus Politics previously explained, Trump's Executive Order 14248, also known as "Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections," requires the implementation of several election integrity measures, such as having the Election Assistance Commission require more rigorous proof of citizenship when registering to vote.

Similarly, the State and Homeland Security Departments and Social Security must allow states to access federal databases to verify the eligibility of people registering to vote, establish an Election Day deadline for tabulating ballots, and deny federal funding to any states that do not comply.

"This Executive Order is exactly what this country needs. It puts Americans — not machines, not foreign influence, not barcode algorithms — back in charge of their elections," said State Rep. Keshel.

Her press release described how Arizona uses a barcode system for vote tabulation: Voters fill in their choice by hand, which is scanned into a code read by machines that do not read written text. In other words, the barcode is the point of tabulation, not the filled-in bubble or write-in vote.

"This system is a slap in the face to every voter in Arizona who thinks their ballot speaks for them," Rep. Keshel said, adding, "What good is a hand-marked ballot if a machine replaces it with a code we can't even read?"

As a result, she further praised Trump's executive order as "the first step" and said, "More reforms are coming — and they should. We are not going to sit by while this nation's elections are left in the hands of machines and foreign money. We are taking our elections back. This isn't complicated. We need elections that every voter can understand, witness, and trust. Machines don't vote. Americans do."

Keshel also called for several changes to Arizona's electoral system, including a return to hand-marked, hand-counted paper ballots in time for the 2026 elections.

Grayson Bakich

Florida born and raised, Grayson Bakich is a recent recipient of a Master’s Degree in Political Science at the University of Central Florida. His thesis examined recent trends in political polarization and how this leads into justification of violence.

Recent Posts

Kelly Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Assist Military Medics Work in Civilian Medicine

Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) is introducing a bipartisan bill with Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD), helping…

4 hours ago

Arizona Is Home Program Grows to $18M, Helping 1,000 Buyers Statewide

Facing growing housing affordability challenges, Governor Katie Hobbs has announced a $5 million expansion of…

6 hours ago

Arizona Senate Republicans Call for Federal Investigation of Senator Ortiz's ICE Posts

Warren Petersen, the President of the Republican Caucus in the Arizona Senate, has asked the…

8 hours ago

Gallego, Kelly Secure Public Safety Funds for Rural Arizona

Senators Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) have announced the securing of nearly $3…

1 day ago

Stanton Urges Approval of Transit for Taiwan President

Representative Greg Stanton (D-AZ) spearheaded a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging the…

1 day ago