Daily Docket — Tuesday, Jan. 3 |
Welcome back! Team Democracy Docket wishes you a happy and healthy 2023. As we enter a new year, we are bringing back Daily Docket, our brief summary of the most important election and voting news of the day. Today is our first day back since the holiday break, so we have some big updates that you may have missed. |
Here are some updates from the past two weeks. |
On Thursday, Dec. 29, President Joe Biden signed into law a bipartisan bill to reform the antiquated Electoral Count Act. The bill was included in the omnibus spending package to fund the federal government and aims to prevent a repeat of the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
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Yesterday, Katie Hobbs, Kris Mayes and Adrian Fontes were sworn in as the governor, attorney general and secretary of state of Arizona, respectively. This ceremony comes on the heels of several weeks of litigation challenging election results. Here are where these lawsuits stand:
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Attorney general race: On Dec. 23, a judge rejected the election contest brought by Abe Hamadeh (R) and the Republican National Committee over the attorney general race. A few days later, the results of the state’s mandatory recount were released, confirming Hamadeh’s loss by 280 votes. Today, Hamadeh filed a motion for a new trial alleging misconduct in Pinal County, a Republican county in central Arizona.
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Secretary of state race: After his election contest was dismissed on Dec. 19, failed Arizona secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem (R) filed an appeal in the Arizona Supreme Court, which was denied. His case is now over.
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Here’s what to expect coming up. |
To close the loop on an exciting midterm election year, we have a handful more op-eds in our How We Won series, where candidates and organizations answer the question: How did you win in the 2022 midterm elections and what does this victory mean for democracy? Stayed tuned for an op-ed from a certain freshman senator from Pennsylvania.
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Legislative sessions are starting again soon! In Texas, legislators have prefiled over 70 election and voting bills ahead of the state’s legislative session beginning on Jan. 10 — including 48 pro-voting and 21 anti-voting measures. Several states permit legislators to submit bills for consideration before the session begins. Although the vast majority of prefiled bills likely won’t become law, they give important clues about the priorities of lawmakers.
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