The truth about Arizona when voting in a general election for President of the United States:

The entire process begins with someone wanting to become a candidate for President.

From this initial desire to be a candidate, the entire process may get complex or seem difficult to follow, so please pay attention to every detail.

The election that takes place in the Spring is known as the Primary Election. When there is to be an election for President of the United States, the election gets to be known by an extra title known as the “presidential preference primary”.

The votes that happen during this primary election with regard to Presidential candidates, is in one regard, to determine which candidate will appear on the ballot in the general election in November for the Democratic and Republican Party.

A bit of bad news here for some: On September 9, 2019, the Arizona Republican Party became one of several state GOP parties to officially cancel their respective primaries and caucuses. Donald Trump’s re-election campaign and GOP officials have cited the fact that Republicans canceled several state primaries when George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush sought a second term in 1992 and 2004, respectively; and Democrats scrapped some of their primaries when Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were seeking reelection in 1996 and 2012, respectively. At the Arizona State Republican Convention in May 2020, the state party will formally bind all 57 of its national pledged delegates to Trump.

The primary election in Arizona is open to unaffiliated voters. Registered voters who have not declared themselves to a specific political party are allowed to vote for whichever party they choose. However, the registered voters who are declared to a party must vote for this particular party. The primary election took place on March 17, 2020.

In Arizona, a candidate running in a presidential preference primary must petition to get on the ballot. At least 500 qualified voters must sign the petition. An independent presidential candidate must petition to get on the general election ballot. This petition must contain signatures equaling 3 percent of all registered state voters who are not affiliated with a qualified political party. A write-in presidential candidate must file a nomination paper in order to have his or her votes tallied.

In Arizona, qualified political parties conduct presidential preference primaries. In order to qualify for placement on the primary ballot, a party must meet at least one of the following criteria:
The party’s candidate for governor or president must have won at least 5 percent of the total votes cast for those offices in the most recent general election. At least two-thirds of 1 percent of the total registered voters in the state must affiliate with the party by October 1 in the year preceding the primary election. A party that meets neither of these provisions may petition for access to the primary ballot. The petition must contain signatures equaling at least 1 and one-third percent of the total votes cast for governor in the most recent general election. These signatures must come from residents in at least five different counties. At least 10 percent of the individuals who sign the petition must be registered to vote in counties “with populations of less than 500,000 persons.” This petition must be filed with the Arizona Secretary of State no earlier than 180 days and no later than 150 days before the presidential preference primary.

A presidential candidate who seeks the nomination of a qualified party must petition for placement on the primary ballot. At least 500 qualified voters must sign this petition. The petition and required paperwork must be filed with the Arizona Secretary of State no earlier than 130 days and no later than 100 days before the primary election. A candidate is not required to petition for ballot placement if he or she can prove to the Arizona Secretary of State that he or she will appear on presidential primary ballots in at least two other states.

With regard to the 2020 election, the deadline to file with the State for a candidate seeking the nomination of the Democratic Party is December 9, 2019. Independent candidates have a deadline of September 4, 2020.

Link to 2020 Primary Election Results:
https://azsos.gov/sites/default/files/PPE%20Canvass%20Signed%203.30.2020.pdf

Link to Hand Count Results:
https://azsos.gov/2020-hand-count-results

When a person votes in Arizona for President and Vice President, this voter is also casting a vote for the electors who are associated with this particular candidate running for President and Vice President.  The names of these so-called electors do appear on the ballot.

Laws within each of the states are known as statutes.  There are several statues that exist within Arizona that pertain to the election process for a person to become President of the United States.  One of the statues contains the following language:

B. After the secretary of state issues the statewide canvass containing the results of a presidential election, the presidential electors of this state shall cast their electoral college votes for the candidate for president and the candidate for vice president who jointly received the highest number of votes in this state as prescribed in the canvass.

C. A presidential elector who knowingly refuses to cast that elector’s electoral college vote as prescribed in subsection B of this section is no longer eligible to hold the office of presidential elector and that office is deemed and declared vacant by operation of law.  The chairperson of the state committee of the political party represented by that elector shall appoint a person who is otherwise qualified to be a presidential elector. The replacement presidential elector shall cast the elector’s electoral college vote as prescribed by this section.  Notwithstanding section 16-344 and any other statute, the nomination paper and affidavit of qualification of the replacement presidential elector may be completed and filed with the secretary of state as soon as is practicable after the presidential elector’s appointment.

On-line at: https://www.azleg.gov/viewDocument/?docName=http://www.azleg.gov/ars/16/00212.htm

What this law (statute) means is that each of the electors who cast their electoral vote in December are required to cast a vote for the candidate who received the highest number of votes from the citizens who voted in November.

This other vote known as the electoral vote takes place on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December in each of the fifty (50) states.  The time of day when the electors gather to conduct this vote may vary from state to state, but the electoral vote happens on the same day in every state, the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December.  Another interesting point to mention: this electoral vote is weeks after we the people have already cast a so-called vote.

What happens to these electoral votes?  Each state has a certain number of electoral votes associated with their state.  There are a total of five-hundred and thirty-eight (538) electoral votes to be exact, and only a total of two-hundred and seventy (270) of these electoral votes are required to determine the person who will become President of the United States.

Knowing the number of electors associated with each of the States, it is mathematically possible to have only eleven (11) states determine who will become the President of the United States.

The following eleven states add up to the two-hundred and seventy (270) electoral votes needed to determine who becomes President of the United States:

California (55 electoral votes)
Texas (38 electoral votes)
New York (29 electoral votes)
Florida (29 electoral votes)
Illinois (20 electoral votes)
Pennsylvania (20 electoral votes)
Ohio (18 electoral votes)
Georgia (16 electoral votes)
Michigan (16 electoral votes)
North Carolina (15 electoral votes)
New Jersey (14 electoral votes)

This next fact may disappoint those of you who reside and vote in Arizona.

If these eleven (11) states end up having their electoral votes casted for the same candidate, the remaining thirty-nine (39) states would not matter at all.  So… that vote you casted in the general election in November as a citizen… what was the purpose of your vote?  The answer: NOTHING (when these eleven states have an electoral outcome as such) !!!

The time is NOW to understand that our country does not have a voting process in place whereby every citizen who wants to cast a vote is able to cast a vote and to then have his or her vote be accurately counted towards choosing the person who will become the next President of the United States.