In Arizona, the Republican state lawmakers are pushing forward with a new bill aiming to expedite election results, facing opposition from Governor Katie Hobbs who has signaled a veto threat. The bill, known as HB2703 or SB1101, seeks to change the current election process by, among other things, eliminating the practice of dropping off early ballots on Election Day—a practice blamed for the slow vote counting in the state, as reported by azfamily.com.

State Senate President Warren Petersen is at the forefront of advocating for the bill claiming, "We should be able to get our election results quickly on the same day of the election," as he told azfamily.com. Despite the GOP's assertions that the bill would speed up results and expand voting, Governor Hobbs has emphatically criticized the proposed measure. "Legislators are attempting to jam through a partisan bill that guts vote by mail and makes it harder to vote. I offered common sense compromises to count votes faster, and they were rejected. I refuse to let extremists make it harder for Arizonans to vote" Hobbs stated, according to FOX 10 Phoenix.

Additionally, the bill proposes adjustments like allowing ballots dropped off in Maricopa County to be counted on-site post-7:00 p.m. on the Friday before Election Day and adding three more days previously limited to emergency-only early voting. While Republican lawmakers see this as a solution to faster results, Democrats, including Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, have raised concerns about the potential implications on voter access. Fontes, as FOX 10 Phoenix reported, also highlighted that the bill might be misaligned with the actual objective, stating, "This really isn’t going to give them what they’re asking for."

Amid these controversies, Republicans are resorting to a strategy to potentially bypass the Governor's veto by proposing to present the measure to the voters next year. House Minority Leader Oscar de Los Santos expressed concerns aligning with Hobbs, highlighting voter preferences, "A lot of voters like to do their detailed research on everything that’s on the ballot and news breaks oftentimes close to Election Day and you have hundreds of thousands of voters who like to keep their ballot and not fill it out very early so they can take the time to research the candidates and the issues that are on the ballot," he told azfamily.com.