Arizona has not banned electronic voting machines

"Arizona lawmakers have banned the use of electronic voting machines in the 2024 election," says commentator Tim Pool in a video shared May 23, 2023 on Facebook and Rumble.

Stew Peters, whom AFP has previously fact-checked for spreading misinformation, made the same allegation on his show, claiming "the Arizona legislature is reclaiming their constitutional authority to regulate elections."

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Screenshot of a Facebook post June 2, 2023

Similar claims have circulated on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok -- but they are inaccurate.

State lawmakers on March 30 passed Senate Bill 1074 (SB 1074), which would have required voting machines to have components manufactured in the United States and open-source code.

Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, vetoed the measure on April 6, saying the "election equipment required by the bill, as well as the problem it purports to solve, does not exist."

The Republican-controlled legislature followed up with a separate vote in favor of a resolution (archived here) with essentially the same terms. Senate Majority Leader Sonny Borrelli said in a May 22 letter that means counties should not use electronic machines failing to meet the criteria.

However, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes has said the resolution does not mandate any change in voting technology.

"Senate Concurrent Resolution 1037 (SCR 1037), which expresses a desire to restrict the use of certain electronic voting machines, is non-binding and does not have the force of law," he said in a May 22 tweet and in a press release (archived here and here).

The statement says election equipment "must be certified by the federal and state government by specific requirements outlined in federal and state law."

"That certification process is being followed in Arizona and all applicable election equipment being used in Arizona is certified," the release says. "If those requirements or certification process were to be changed, it would require a regular bill to be passed by the legislature and signed by the governor -- which is not the case for this non-binding resolution."

Richie Taylor, head of communications for Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, agreed.

"There are no laws that have been passed that would have required what Senator Borelli states," Taylor said in a June 2 email. "SCR 1037 is non-binding and has no legal impact, and SB 1074 was vetoed by Governor Hobbs."

Stefanie Lindquist, a professor of law and political science at Arizona State University, said Borrelli's claim is based on an untested legal theory about a clause in the US Constitution that gives state legislatures the power to regulate elections.

"(The theory) basically says the legislature can do whatever it wants and has full authority regardless of the rest of state government," Lindquist told AFP on June 2.

Lindquist said some activists floated the idea in 2020 to petition legislatures to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, which were marred by baseless claims of voter fraud.

"I don't know of any federal court that has endorsed this theory," she said. "The US Supreme Court has not."

AFP has debunked other claims about Arizona elections here and here.