Rep. Shawnna Bolick's bill would let the Legislature revoke Arizona's presidential electors
Editor's note (October 2026): The bill never got a vote; House Speaker Rusty Bowers essentially killed it, the Associated Press reported in May 2022. Source.
Based on reporting by Ben Giles for KJZZ, published January 29, 2021.
A bill sponsored by then-Rep. Shawnna Bolick, a Phoenix Republican, would let the Arizona Legislature revoke the certification of the presidential electors Arizona voters choose, KJZZ reported. The GOP has long controlled the Legislature.
In practice, KJZZ reported, lawmakers could use a majority vote to overturn a Democratic win in a presidential race in Arizona. Under state law, the popular vote winner decides which slate of electors casts the state's 11 electoral votes. In 2020 that winner was Joe Biden, who beat Donald Trump.
The bill followed calls from some Arizona Republicans for the Legislature to overturn Biden's win, along with criticism of state leaders such as Republican Gov. Doug Ducey for certifying Biden's electors in late November. KJZZ noted that Republicans relied on false claims that the election was stolen or fraudulent to justify those calls.
Bolick did not respond to KJZZ's request for comment. In a statement, she accused the media of using the bill as "click bait" to produce misleading headlines and said it would give back to the Legislature a power it had delegated. She called it "a good, democratic check and balance."
KJZZ reported that Bolick chaired the House Ways and Means Committee, which it said made it likely the bill would at least reach a vote on the House floor, since committee chairs control their own agendas.