By Ronald Sampson
All of the stars are aligning for the Republicans this year, especially in Arizona. The border is a major national issue, almost entirely because of failures by Democrats. The very top of the ticket is a Democrat President with a 33% approval rating and is running for re-election at the ripe young age of 81. This should be a red wave election, and yet Arizona Republicans seem bound and determined to stop that from happening.
The newest evidence? Their attempt to stop early voting, and perhaps even more so, the attempt to bring it to a public vote in the November elections.
Nevermind that 95% of Arizonans vote early, and that it has been a hallmark of Arizona politics for decades. Nevermind that it offers the sort of flexibility that we all appreciate and allows all people that have the right to vote the ability to vote. Nevermind that attacks on it are based on sour grapes entirely devoid of any facts (remember the Cyber Ninjas fiasco? Remember how we were embarrassed on a national stage as a result?).
So who do we have to thank for this? None other than Senator Wendy Rogers, the legislator who has rarely seen any conspiracy theory wacky enough that she wouldn’t jump on, so long as it was in support of the whims of former President Trump. And her hard-right base in rural Arizona, in a district that stretches into some of the odder stretches of our state’s electorate, seems to appreciate it.
But any reasonable voter, liberal or conservative, should be turned off by it. Moreover, when our state had moved away from the bad press days of Sheriff Arpaio, when our state’s reputation nationally had improved, then came the election denialism. And now comes the GOP shooting all of us in the foot and trying to bring attention to this tragic act of violence.
However, attacking something that is used by 95% of voters is a new echelon of stupidity, and attempting to bring it to a public vote to showcase how stupid they are is…something else. Meanwhile, sane conservatives are waiting for the old GOP that wasn’t mired in the lowest common denominator to come back. Any day now…
If Republicans are so stupid so as to attack that which is universally appreciated, then they deserve what they will get, which will be snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.