Committee backs allowing school board candidates to use electronic nomination petitions
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Summary
Senate Bill 10-41 would add school board offices to the list of offices that may collect nomination signatures through the state's electronic petition system; the committee gave the bill a unanimous due-pass recommendation after supporters said it eases signature collection for large, rural districts.
The Arizona House Committee on Federalism, Military Affairs and Elections voted 7-0 to give Senate Bill 10-41 a due-pass recommendation, allowing school board candidates to use the state's electronic nomination petition system.
Supporters told the committee the change would ease a practical hurdle for school board hopefuls in large or sparsely populated districts who now must travel great distances to collect paper nomination signatures. Jordy Clark, representing the Arizona Association of Counties, said county school superintendents have noticed school board candidates struggling to secure required signatures in larger districts and asked the committee to "offer those running for a school board seat the option to use the equal system like other elected officials." Clark said he was not aware of opposition and that the Arizona School Boards Association had expressed support.
Shelly Boggs, Maricopa County School Superintendents, testified from experience as a former school board member: "This bill strengthens election security, by requiring the identity verification, which would make the challenge, the 10 day challenge, just such a smoother process." She said verifying signatures electronically could reduce the adversarial nature of paper-signature challenges and allow candidates to spend more time campaigning.
Committee members asked whether moving to an electronic option could disadvantage voters or candidates who are not technologically savvy. Boggs said a combination of in-person and electronic collection could be used and that in her personal experience she collected more in-person signatures than electronic ones but supported adding the option.
Action taken: the committee recorded a roll-call vote of 7 ayes, 0 nays and gave SB 10-41 a due-pass recommendation. The bill sponsor was present to answer members' questions; several county and superintendent office representatives also testified in support.
