SOS Katie Hobbs had all of her authority over elections stripped from her by the Arizona legislature and given to Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) through the end of the 2023 fiscal year. That is because they anticipate her being gone by 2023.
Hobbs has been trying to kill the audit of Maricopa County ever since it was proposed and I imagine the Republicans just wanted to get her out of their hair.
Yahoo News reported:
The Republican-controlled state Legislature in Arizona voted Thursday to revoke the Democratic secretary of state’s legal authority in election-related lawsuits, handing that power instead to the Republican attorney general…
…The measure was part of a grab bag of proposals inserted into major budget legislation, including several actions that appeared to address conspiracy theories alleging manipulated elections that some Republican lawmakers have promoted. One of the items allotted $500,000 for a study of whether social media sites tried to interfere in state elections by promoting Democrats or censoring Republicans.
This is why no one trusts Yahoo News. The fact that social media companies promote liberals and censor conservatives is a theory? I have a few more theories for you. The sun rises in the east. The water is wet.
Nolan Ryan is the greatest strikeout pitcher in history. It’s easier to drive on roads than it is to drive on water. (Just take my word on this one) Well, I guess you get the idea.
Liberals always try to pretend that a problem does not exist. Look at how many deny that schools teach Critical Race Theory.
Arizona’s ABC 15 reported the news at the time:
After publicly expressing “grave concerns” over Arizona’s audit of the 2020 election results, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) was “stripped” of her ability to “defend election lawsuits” by the state’s Republican-led House Appropriations Committee, reported Arizona’s ABC 15 on Tuesday. The duty was transferred “exclusively” to Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) through the end of the 2023 fiscal year.
Democrats say the move is retaliation against Hobbs’ defense of Arizona voters in “lawsuits filed by the State Republican Party and others challenging Arizona’s election results,” per ABC 15. “It can’t be just a coincidence” that Republicans are blocking a “vocal critic of the audit,” writes Elvia Díaz for azcentral.com. Democratic State Rep. Randy Friese reportedly called the move “troubling,” “disturbing,” and “quite nefarious.”
Furthermore, the Appropriations Committee removed Hobb’s “oversight of the Capitol Museum,” ABC 15 reports, after Hobbs angered state lawmakers when she “flew a gay pride flag from the building’s balcony” in 2019.