Yavapai News

Sen. Ken Bennett (R-1), Yavapai County’s state senator, today criticized Gov. Katie Hobbs’ (D-Ariz.) veto of a bill that Bennett said “would have provided Arizona voters with transparency measures to create increased confidence in our elections.”  

"I couldn't be more furious at the governor's decision to disregard the need for complete transparency in our elections," said Bennett, who co-sponsored the bill with Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma (R-27). "Voting is the sacred way we as Americans give our consent to be governed and the people of Arizona should have confidence in the integrity of that process. To increase voter confidence, we need to demystify the election process and allow the public the transparency it deserves. In order to have this in place by the 2024 elections, we need legislation signed this session, not a year from now."

The bill, HB 2560, “would have allowed the public to use a secure portal provided by the Secretary of State to download public documents including the anonymous ballot images, and the spreadsheet where the votes are tabulated known as a cast-vote record, while still protecting the identity of voters. With this data, the public could verify that the votes were properly recorded and that the number of ballots matches the number of voters reported by each county,” said Bennett.

In her veto letter, Hobbs said the bill “threatens anonymity and privacy” and “opens the door to the spread of additional mis-information and dis-information.” Bennett said “nothing could be further from the truth.”

“There is nothing in this bill that would have disclosed information to threaten either,” he said. “Voters' identities would be protected. This bill would have helped eliminate mis- and dis-information and is a solution to this serious issue.”

The bill passed the House on May 15 on a vote of 31-27 (with one member not voting), and it passed the Senate on the same day on a vote of 19-9 (with two members not voting.

"I worked hard with both sides of the aisle for two years to address the lack of trust in our state's elections, which is why this bill had bipartisan support, including from Democrat Secretary of State Adrian Fontes,” said Bennett. “Clearly, Governor Hobbs is going back on her promise to support legislation with bipartisan support by vetoing yet another.” 

Bennett, 63, was elected to represent District 1 in the Arizona State Senate in November 2022. He defeated Democrat Mike Fogel, winning 66 percent to Fogel's 34 percent. 

A current member of the governor's elections task force, Bennett also previously served as Arizona Secretary of State from 2009 to 2015.  

A Tucson native, he graduated from Prescott High School in 1977, from Yavapai College in 1981, and from the University of Arizona in 1984. 

He served as CEO of Bennett OIl Company until 2006 and currently resides in Prescott with his wife, Jeanne, with whom he has three grown children.