Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) has introduced legislation to protect mail-in voting in response to an executive order issued by President Donald Trump at the end of March.
At the beginning of April, Representative Greg Stanton (D-AZ) led fellow lawmakers in a letter to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, demanding the Department of Justice (DOJ) reject the executive order, which calls for the creation of lists of U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote in each state, instructing the U.S. Postal Service to send mail ballots only to verified voters, evidently to secure mail-in voting.
As a result, Sen. Gallego's Absentee MVP Act nullifies the EO and blocks the DOJ and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from compelling the creation of or sharing of voter lists.
Additionally, the Privacy Act will be enforced to prevent federal agencies from improperly sharing voter data, both within the government and with outside groups, and the bill orders the defunding of any future Commerce Department attempts to regulate elections.
"I have voted in every election by mail since 2006. Voting by mail is safe, secure, and the first choice for 80% of Arizona voters," said Sen. Gallego in a press release. "Trump realizes that his policies are losing voters, and instead of actually trying to fix the issues they care about, he's trying to fix the election. I'm proud to support this legislation to protect Arizonans' right to participate in our democracy."
Earlier in April, Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Gallego wrote to DHS, demanding that it end its probe into the 2020 Election in Arizona, saying the claims of fraud have been debunked and that the probe is diverting agents from vital operations.
"The election was the subject of multiple failed lawsuits and investigations and audits that revealed no evidence of fraud," the Arizona Senators wrote. "Deploying agents who should be focused on targeting criminals to investigate debunked claims of election fraud makes Americans less safe and raises serious questions about the legitimacy of the investigation."
