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  • Voters in battleground Arizona to decide if local agencies can police illegal immigration

    Voters in battleground Arizona to decide if local agencies can police illegal immigration

    PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona voters are set to decide whether to let local police arrest migrants suspected of illegally entering the state from Mexico, an authority that would encroach on the federal government’s power over immigration enforcement but would not take effect immediately, if ever.

    If Arizona voters approve Proposition 314, the state would become the latest to test the limits of what local authorities can do to curb illegal immigration. Within the past year, GOP lawmakers in Texas, Iowa and Oklahoma have passed immigration laws. In each case, federal courts have halted the states’ efforts to enforce them.

    The only presidential battleground state that borders Mexico, Arizona is no stranger to a bitter divide on the politics of immigration. Since the early 2000s, frustration over federal enforcement of Arizona’s border with Mexico has inspired a movement to draw local police departments, which had traditionally left border duties to the federal government, into immigration enforcement.

    The state Legislature approved an immigrant smuggling ban in 2005 that let then-Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio conduct immigration crackdowns, a 2007 prohibition on employers knowingly hiring people in the country illegally, and a landmark 2010 immigration law that required police, while enforcing other laws, to question the legal status of people suspected of being in the country without authorization.

    Arizona voters have been asked to decide matters related to immigration before. They approved a 2004 law denying some government benefits to people in the country illegally and a 2006 law declaring English to be Arizona’s official language. They also rejected a 2008 proposal that would have made business-friendly revisions to the state law barring employers from hiring people who are in the country without authorization.

    Arizona GOP lawmakers say the proposal is necessary to help secure the border, as they blame the Biden administration for an unprecedented surge of illegal immigration. Record levels of illegal crossings have plummeted in recent months, following moves by the White House to tighten asylum restrictions.

    Opponents of Proposition 314 argue it would harm Arizona’s economy and reputation, as well as lead to the racial profiling of Latinos. They cite the profiling Latinos endured when Arpaio led the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. In 2013, a federal judge ruled Latinos had been racially profiled in Arpaio’s traffic patrols that targeted immigrants, leading to a court-ordered overhaul of the agency that’s expected to cost taxpayers $314 million in legal and compliance costs by mid-summer 2025.

    Kelli Hykes, who works in health policy and volunteers for Greg Whitten, the Democratic nominee in the race for Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, said she thought carefully about how to vote on the immigration measure but declined to share her choice.

    “It’s so polarizing, and there are folks in my family that are going to be voting one way and I’m voting another,” Hykes said.

    Proposition 314 would make it a state crime for people to illegally enter Arizona from Mexico outside official ports of entry, permitting local and state law enforcement officers to arrest them and state judges to order their deportations. Those who enforce the law would be shielded from civil lawsuits.

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    These provisions, however, wouldn’t be enforceable immediately. A violator couldn’t be prosecuted until a similar law in Texas or another state has been in effect for 60 consecutive days.

    The Arizona GOP lawmakers who voted to put the measure on the ballot were referring to Texas Senate Bill 4. The bill, signed into law by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in December, was supposed to allow local and state law enforcement to arrest people accused of entering Texas illegally from Mexico.

    A federal appeals court put it on hold in March. The following month, a panel of federal judges heard from a Texas attorney defending the law and Justice Department attorneys arguing it encroached on the federal government’s authority over enforcing immigration law. The panel has yet to release its decision.

    Other provisions of Proposition 314 aren’t contingent upon similar laws outside Arizona. If voters approve the measure, it would immediately make selling fentanyl that results in a person’s death a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and a crime for noncitizens to submit false documentation when applying for employment or attempting to receive benefits from local, state and federal programs.

    ___

    Gabriel Sandoval is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

  • Arizona voters to decide on expanding abortion access months after facing a potential near-total ban

    Arizona voters to decide on expanding abortion access months after facing a potential near-total ban

    PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona voters are set to decide whether to guarantee the right to abortion in the state constitution — a vote that could cement access after the presidential battleground came close to a near-total ban earlier this year.

    Arizona is one of nine states with abortion on the ballot.

    Abortion-rights advocates are hoping for a win that could expand access beyond the state’s current 15-week limit to the point of fetal viability, a term used by health care providers to describe whether a pregnancy is expected to continue developing normally or whether a fetus might survive outside the uterus. Doctors say it’s sometime after 21 weeks, though there’s no defined time frame.

    Advocates also are counting on the measure to drive interest among Democrats to vote the party line up and down the ballot. When Republicans running in tough races address the ballot measure, they generally don’t dissuade voters from supporting it, though some like Senate candidate Kari Lake say they’re personally voting against it. GOP U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani, whose battleground congressional district encompasses Tucson, ran an ad saying he rejects “the extremes on abortion.”

    Arizona has been whipsawed by recent legal and legislative battles centered on abortion. In April, the state Supreme Court cleared the way for enforcement of a long-dormant 1864 law that banned nearly all abortions. The Legislature swiftly repealed it.

    In addition to the abortion ballot measure itself, the issue could sway state legislative races and lead to elimination of the voice voters have over retention of state Superior Court judges and Supreme Court justices.

    Arizona for Abortion Access, the coalition leading the ballot measure campaign, has far outpaced the opposition campaign, It Goes Too Far, in fundraising. Opponents argue that the measure is too far-reaching because its physical and mental health exemption post-viability is so broad that it effectively legalizes abortion beyond viability. The measure allows post-viability abortions if they are necessary to protect the life or physical or mental health of the mother.

    Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, abortion-rights supporters prevailed in all seven abortion ballot questions, including in conservative-leaning states.

    Voters in Arizona are divided on abortion. Maddy Pennell, a junior at Arizona State University, said the possibility of a near-total abortion ban made her “depressed” and strengthened her desire to vote for the abortion ballot measure.

    “I feel very strongly about having access to abortion,” she said.

    Kyle Lee, an independent Arizona voter, does not support the abortion ballot measure.

    “All abortion is pretty much, in my opinion, murder from beginning to end,” Lee said.

    The Civil War-era ban also shaped the contours of tight legislative races. State Sen. Shawnna Bolick and state Rep. Matt Gress are among the handful of vulnerable Republican incumbents in competitive districts who crossed party lines to give the repeal vote the final push — a vote that will be tested as both parties vie for control of the narrowly GOP-held state Legislature.

    Both of the Phoenix-area lawmakers were rebuked by some of their Republican colleagues for siding with Democrats. Gress made a motion on the House floor to initiate the repeal of the 1864 law. Bolick, explaining her repeal vote to her Senate colleagues, gave a 20-minute floor speech describing her three difficult pregnancies.

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    While Gress was first elected to his seat in 2022, Bolick is facing voters for the first time. She was appointed by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to fill a seat vacancy in 2023. She has not emphasized her role in the repeal vote as she has campaigned, instead playing up traditional conservative issues — one of her signs reads “Bolick Backs the Blue.”

    Another question before voters is whether to move away from retention elections for state Superior Court judges and Supreme Court justices, a measure put on the ballot by Republican legislators hoping to protect two justices who favored allowing the Civil War-era ban to be enforced.

    Under the existing system, voters decide every four to six years whether judges and justices should remain on the bench. The proposed measure would allow the judges and justices to stay on the bench without a popular vote unless one is triggered by felony convictions, crimes involving fraud and dishonesty, personal bankruptcy or mortgage foreclosure.

    Shawnna Bolick’s husband, Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick, is one of two conservative justices up for a retention vote. Justice Bolick and Justice Kathryn Hackett King, who were both appointed by former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, sided with the high court’s majority to allow the enforcement of the 1864 near-total ban. Abortion-rights activists have campaigned for their ouster, but if the ballot measure passes they will keep their posts even if they don’t win the retention election.

  • Connecticut to decide on constitution change to make mail-in voting easier

    Connecticut to decide on constitution change to make mail-in voting easier

    Connecticut voters will decide Tuesday whether to get rid of rules preventing the state from joining the 36 others that allow people to cast ballots by mail or through drop boxes without needing an excuse for not going to a polling place in person.

    An amendment to the state constitution would lift long-standing restrictions that only allow people to vote by absentee ballot if they are going to be out of town, are sick or disabled, or can’t get to a polling location because of religious restrictions.

    “We can finally free our state from the shackles of a long history of overly restrictive voting laws and ensure every eligible voter can cast their ballot conveniently, safely, and securely,” said state Rep. Matt Blumenthal, a Democrat who co-chairs the General Assembly’s Government Administration and Elections Committee.

    If voters ultimately agree by a simple majority to allow “no-excuse” balloting, it will then be up to state lawmakers to enact the new system.

    “This just enables them to do it,” said Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas.

    Thomas, a Democrat, said that if the amendment passes, her recommendation would be for legislators to take a year to research and design a “holistic” system that also includes early voting and voting in person.

    Connecticut voters recently agreed to change the state’s constitution to allow early in-person voting, which took place for the first time in the March primaries. There were 14 days of early voting for the general election. Besides being mailed, absentee ballots can also be put in drop boxes located in every city and town, or submitted to local election offices.

    Twenty-eight states let voters request an absentee ballot without requiring an excuse, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Eight more states, plus Washington, D.C., go a step farther and automatically mail a ballot to all registered voters without them having to request one.

    Critics of Connecticut’s proposed change, mostly Republicans, have questioned the safeguards surrounding the state’s current absentee ballot system.

    In the state’s largest city, Bridgeport, there were allegations of abuses of absentee ballots during the Democratic mayoral primaries in 2019 and 2023. Last year, a judge ordered the Bridgeport mayoral election redone after campaign volunteers were caught on camera stuffing wads of other people’s absentee ballots into collection boxes.

    “It is clear the current absentee ballot system currently in place is broken,” Sen. Rob Sampson and Rep. Gale Mastrofrancesco, the top Republicans on the Government Administration and Elections Committee, said in a statement.

    “In Bridgeport, investigations have shown that people were illegally cheating the system, yet this ballot measure would expand the use of absentee ballots, opening the door to even more fraud and misuse,” they said.

    Both said they would also oppose any change that would lead to ballots being automatically mailed to qualified voters.

    Thomas had noted that states with universal access have implemented systems with greater ballot security and voter protection. Requiring things like basic personal information, the last four digits of a Social Security number or a driver’s license number might be considered by Connecticut legislators if the amendment passes.

    Patricia Rossi, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Connecticut, said the state’s current absentee voting rules left out people who might not be able to make it to a polling place on Election Day for other good reasons, like having to work or act as someone’s caregiver, or because they couldn’t access transportation.

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    Coralys Santana, policy and advocacy strategist for The Connecticut Project Action Fund, a group promoting the ballot measure, contends that easing voting rules would benefit people of all political ideologies.

    “There can be a partisan divide if folks choose that,” Santata said. “But I think for the most part, this measure is nonpartisan and is just about equal opportunity and access to the ballot box.”

  • New Hampshire will decide incumbent’s fate in 1 US House district and fill an open seat in the other

    New Hampshire will decide incumbent’s fate in 1 US House district and fill an open seat in the other

    CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Democrats are hoping to maintain their dominance in New Hampshire’s congressional delegation Tuesday, while Republicans seek to regain a foothold by ousting an incumbent or picking up an open seat.

    In the 1st District, which covers the eastern half of the state and includes Manchester, its largest city, Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas is running for a fourth term. He faces Republican former state Sen. Russell Prescott. The district once was quite politically volatile, with party control flipping five times in six election cycles from 2006 to 2016.

    The 2nd District, which includes the cities of Nashua and Concord, hasn’t been in Republican hands since 2013. That seat is open because Democratic U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster, the longest serving member in the district’s history, is retiring after six terms. Former White House aide Maggie Goodlander, a Democrat, faces Republican activist Lily Tang Williams in the race for Kuster’s seat.

    Those are New Hampshire’s only congressional districts. Neither of the state’s U.S. senators, both Democrats, were up for reelection.

    1st Congressional District

    Both Pappas and Prescott served on the governor’s Executive Council, a five-member panel that approves state contracts and judicial nominees. They overlapped during the last of Pappas’ three terms and the first of Prescott’s two terms.

    Pappas, who considers himself a pragmatic voice in Washington, touted his support from women, veterans and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce during the campaign. He made abortion rights a top issue, calling Prescott “radically out of step” and accusing him of distrusting women to make health care decisions.

    “I don’t believe that politicians should be making this decision,” he said during a debate last week. “I take my cues directly from the people of New Hampshire.”

    Prescott, who spent 10 years in the state Senate, said he opposes abortion but would not support a federal ban on the procedure. He said he would focus on U.S.-Mexico border security and reducing inflation and taxes. He said Pappas has spent his time in Washington backing liberal policies that he claims have increased taxes and illegal immigration.

    Prescott ran for the same congressional seat in 2022, finishing fourth in the GOP primary, but defeated six candidates this year to win the nomination.

    “I’m asking you to look into my record and to my behavior and to who I am as a person,” he said in last week’s debate. “And I’m asking for your trust again to work for you to make sure we solve our border problems, our economy and make sure that we have energy independence.”

    2nd Congressional District

    Tang Williams also took two tries to win the GOP nomination. She finished third in 2022 before beating a dozen candidates in this year’s Republican primary. Goodlander defeated one opponent to win the Democratic nomination.

    Goodlander, who is married to President Joe Biden’s national security advisor, grew up in Nashua and recently moved back there from Washington. She worked in the Justice Department as a top antitrust official and as counsel to Attorney General Merrick Garland before moving to the White House chief of staff’s office earlier this year.

    During her campaign, she promised to protect democracy, expand abortion access and take on corporate monopolies that she says are jacking up the price of housing, health care, prescription drugs and groceries.

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    “We can still come together as Democrats and Republicans to tackle the challenges that unite us as Americans, and that’s what I’ve done on the front lines of the fight against some of the biggest drivers of high costs for people across this state,” she said during a debate last week.

    Tang Williams is a native of China who became a U.S. citizen in 1994 and now works as a business and legal consultant. A former chair of the Colorado Libertarian Party, she unsuccessfully ran for office there before moving to New Hampshire.

    Describing herself as the embodiment of the American dream, she said her priorities in Washington will be reducing inflation, improving border security and stopping what Republicans say is a “weaponization” of government against conservatives.

    “Do you want somebody who truly represents the people or do you want somebody from the D.C. swamp?” she said during last week’s debate. “I will represent you with pride and transparency.”