ARIZONA: Election Integrity Amendment Proposal Bypasses Katie Hobbs' Veto Legacy
Arizona Republicans can send an amendment to voters to boost election integrity and speed up ballot counting
The Arizona legislature will get an opportunity to vote for election integrity as soon as it gets back from Christmas Break, thanks to state Sen. Shawnna Bolick. The Phoenix-based senator has filed SCR 1001 as the first bill of the 2026 legislative session, which begins on Jan. 12.
The ballot referral measure promises to fortify the state's voting safeguards by mandating documented proof of citizenship for ballot issuance, ending early voting at 7 p.m. on the Friday before Election Day, and requiring government-issued photo ID for both in-person and early ballots.
If the state Senate and House of Representatives adopt the measure, it will go to the voters on next year’s election ballot. If a majority of voters approve, it will amend the state constitution.
In a statement on X, Bolick said she wants to bring “Florida-style” timely results to her state.
On Saturday morning, I pre‑filed SCR 1001, the first Senate bill for the upcoming legislative session, focused on a top priority for Senate Republicans: election integrity to strengthen trust in Arizona’s elections.
— Shawnna LM Bolick (@ShawnnaLMBolick) November 18, 2025
Over the past three legislative sessions, I have introduced… https://t.co/bYtxLhrBVQ
Restoration News has previously noted if every state conducted its elections like Florida, it would greatly reduce the real and perceived threat of voter fraud, which sows distrust in election outcomes in swing states like Arizona.
For instance, in last year’s presidential election, Florida produced its results before midnight, while many states waited days or even weeks. Arizona follows California as the second-slowest state to count ballots, thanks to hundreds of thousands of “late earlies.” These are early ballots dumped at polling places on Election Day that take election officials days to count.
National polling has shown Americans of both political parties support the election integrity measures Bolick proposes. Just this past March, voters in Wisconsin elected the liberal state Supreme Court Justice candidate by double-digits but backed a ballot proposal to require photo ID to vote by an even wider margin.
Bypassing Gov. “Veto” Hobbs
The ballot proposal crucially bypasses Gov. Katie Hobbs’ veto pen. Earlier this year, Hobbs—who has struck more bills than any governor in the state’s history—vetoed the early ballot deadline aspect of Bolick’s amendment proposal.
Hobbs infamously counted her own election results after refusing to recuse herself when she was Secretary of State while running for governor, in 2022. After the tight race fueled contested election results she did not try to quiet voters’ fears that election discrepancies could possibly exist. Instead, she doubled down on the same failed dismissal tactics as the rest of her party and vetoed any measure the Republican-led legislature introduced to protect the democracy Democrats so often harp on.
Mandating photo ID to vote stops foreign nationals from lying about their citizenship and voting in our elections. In a border state like Arizona, this is a no-brainer to everyone except the Democrat special interests who pretend non-whites and poor people are too ignorant to figure out how to obtain an approved photo ID.
Ending early voting early is just as important, if not more so, considering if anyone tried a massive electoral fraud scheme, this would aggravate those plans even more than requiring photo ID. By making early voting end early, it relieves pressure on election officials, minimizing mistakes and making it easier to catch fraudulent ballots, which leftist organizations in Arizona have been known to use.
“SCR 1001 will put voters—not bureaucrats, not activists, and not foreign interests—back in charge of how our elections are run. When we raise the standards, we protect the integrity of every lawful vote," Bolick said.
The Republican-majority legislature has an opportunity to start 2026 right, allowing its citizens to bypass their obstructing governor and directly secure their states’ elections. Passing SCR 101 would empower voters to enshrine proof-of-citizenship, legal residence, and end last-minute ballot dumps. This would transform the Grand Canyon State from one of America's slowest election systems into a model of speed, security, and trust.
(READ MORE: Here's Why You Should Want Your Voter Information Public)
