>> Coming up on Arizona horizon, it's a debate and we'll hear from the republican candidate for secretary of Tate and an hour-long clean election's debate and next on Arizona horizon.

[ ♪♪♪ ] >> Good evening and welcome to the special election 2022 edition of Arizona horizon.

It's a debate between republican candidates for Arizona secretary the state and it's sponsored by clean elections, your source for special election information.

Tonight's debate is not a formal exercise but an exchange of ideas for candidates for one of the state's most important positions.

Interruptions are allowed provided all sides get a fair shake and we'll do our best to see that happens.

Candidates will give open statements in a selected selected order.

State representative Boleck and Bolane and Michelle Rita and the fourth candidate in this race was invited to participate but declined our invitation.

Let's get to opening statements let's start with Michelle Rita.

>> Well, my name is Michelle Rita and I'm running for secretary of state to restore confidence and trust in the outcome of our elections and I think we can all agree that confidence and trust has been deeply damaged and obliterated and time it's restored.

And I am the candidate to do just that.

I can tell you over the course of the last 11 years in the legislature, I have demonstrated time and time again, I do what's right and not politically expedient and it's that leadership you'll need in secretary of state with the next big election of 2024.

We can no longer afford to have people who don't know what they're doing and learning on the job and have to practical experience when it comes to administering elections.

There's a problem?

I can fix it and I'm excited to earn your vote this evening.

>> Thank you very much and now we urine to Bolane.

>> It's great to be here and thank you for the clean election's commission.

I'm in one of my favorite buildings tonight, the Cronkite school of journalism and happen to be on the advisory board and I believe that this journalism school is the finest in the country and nice to be here.

I'm running for secretary of state and unique in this race and I'm a businessman and not a politician and I believe this is a job that requires executive leadership and somebody that can be a fair dealer and bring executive experience to the office.

The politicians have kind of messed things up and I think it's time for a businessman with confidence and professionalism to be in this office and restore faith in the secretary of state's office.

>> Thank you very much.

For our final opening statement, Shauna Bolick.

>> Ima current Arizona representative.

I want to make sure the office is actually open so businesses can get filings in on time and make sure the processers are as efficient as possible and I have chaired the house the last two years without a single tax increase come through and stopped the gas increase tax bill brought before the committee last year and I want to make sure we are working together across the 15 counties and I would like 15 election integrity tax forces making sure to clean up voter roles and getting illegal I.D.

on all ballots and I hope to earn your support.

Thank you.

>> Thank you, candidates.

Michelle, what do you see as the duties of the secretary of state?

>> I see the main responsibility to make sure that you restore confidence by getting the election procedure's manual in a way that has compliance, easy to read and people will follow.

>> Other aspects of the job that are of primary importance?

>> Trademarks, notaries, dealing with a confidentiality program for individuals that are in abusive relationships and deals with and manages the state's seal and I'll tell you it's synonymous with managing and overseeing election interestss.

>> How much should the Secretary of State advocate for or against political issues?

>> They should follow the law.

This is an administrative office but not where you inject your personal opinions about policies outside of the duties and responsibilities of that office.

>> Beau, the diets what duties, what do you see?

>> You are responsible for overseeing elections and making sure they're free and fair and with integrity.

The second aspect is an important aspect, the largest government-to-business service bureau and not been run well for the last, at least in the current administration.

The office has not been friendly to business and it needs to be and the third element of it is that you're the defacto lieutenant governor and unique to our state and so, you need to make sure that when you're voting for the person that will occupy that office, you can see them stepping spot governor's chair if need be and that's happened four out of the ten times.

>> With that said, does it come with the bully pulpit?

>> The office?

>> Yes.

>> It sure does.

You are the spokesperson for the office in the state of Arizona.

>> What about other things?

>> I continued to check my politics at the door when I go in there and I'm conservative, but I want to make sure that we have honest and fair elections, You're working with 15 county recorders to make sure the procedures and laws are followed.

As we have seen from the current administration, she has stretched things she shouldn't be doing and that's why she's in court with the attorney general and I had a bill that would have said the statute prevailed and basically in response to some of the things that secretary Hobbs did the last election.

>> Our security Secretary of State is more concerned about her next appearance on MSNBC and considers herself the secretary of the democratic party and that's highly inappropriate.

This is an office where you check your politics at the door and that you need to be a fair dealer.

>> Every time she runs out of money, she comes to the legislature asking for more to bring us back into court.

She had us doing same-day legislature which is not in statute.

>> You mentioned current at the expense of doing the jobs they were elected to do.

>> I appropriation not to do that.

>> Previous secretaries of state did that?

>> Yes.

>> Can you gives us example.

>> CanadianKen Bennett and I didn't think that was a good idea.

You shouldn't be political.

It should be Switzerland and I have my own reason c why I'm running.

In 2020, the Democrats filed a lawsuit against me and I can see I did after winning my lawsuit, I can see them working together to throw me off the ballot.

>> When I asked beau, is there a bully pulpit that goes along with this office?

>> Absolutely.

Can you use the office to talk about election issues and educate the public?

Absolutely.

Can you weigh in on what you believe are the right laws that should be governing elections?

Can you use the office to help promote collaboration with the 15 county recorders and the 15 board of supervisors?

Absolutely, you can do that and you should be doing that.

I do want to dispel something.

This is not an economic development office and anyone who wants to recharacterize this office is somehow designed for business is trying to distract you from the fact they know nothing about the administration.

>> The legislature gave a lot of money for one-stop portal and we have money to the Secretary of State's office.

>> It's the corporation commission and if you want to get involved in economic development, may I suggest you get a job at the Arizona commerce authority.

But if you want to restore elections like I do, then you want to be in this.

>> I've been working on economic development my entire career in this state and created billions of dollars worth of through my business and we have good role models in Secretary of State.

We have Jane Hull, Jan Brewer who has endorsed me and these two individuals ran that office as an impartial -- >> Do you agree with the criticism of Ken Bennet?

Didn't I did not.

>> Should they have been run for office and running for office -- >> He chaired Mitt Romney's campaign.

>> I'm not aware of the details of that and I think Ken Bennet -- >> I'm criticizing he was part of a political campaign.

>> Which is inappropriate.

>> That's highly inappropriate.

>> Michelle, would you have certified the 2020 Arizona election results?

>> Well, there's no mechanism to do that.

If you read statute, the only way to stop certification is through a court order.

So I would follow the law and operate within the confines of the law.

>> You would have signed the documents?

>> I would operate within the confines of the law and stop the certification upon a court order like the law says.

>> Ted, I would have signed it because it's our constitutional duty as our secretary of state and there is no option.

Once the canvas is done and it's been certified, it's the job of the attorney general and the governor and the secretary of state to certify that election.

>> Would you have signed those documents?

>> I've sign every resolution up to the certification and I believe we need an ought different,audit and shestepped too soon to certify the election.

The things that we have found out ever since then, as we have seen in Maricopa county, there were problems with the election and my opinion, at the time, I would not have certified it but asked for a forensic audit in the 15 counties.

>> You would not have certified on that day?

>> Not that day.

>> You disagree with that?

>> If you're familiar with the law, it's not a function of being disagreeable or not but what the law says.

You shall do it.

>> Right.

>> Unless, and that's the difference between me and the other candidates in the race.

I will follow the letter of the law.

If you don't like it, it's the legislative branch to change it.

>> Michelle, we all know that and it's the duty of the Secretary of State and there is no option to sign that.

>> Apparently we don't all know that.

>> I don't think she should have signed it.

>> She would have been breaking the law.

>> Right.

>> And I would have been breaking the law at that point.

>> And that's not the kind of Secretary of State that we want, someone who is -- to breaking the law.

>> 57,000 Emails came into my office between -- >> We all got elections on January 1st and everybody was asking us to do an audit or come back and have a special session.

>> I got all of those Emails.

There were massive change Email.

>> There weren't all chain Emails.

>> Along with the Secretary of State, they were this error on that day.

>> I would not have certified the election that day, no, I would not have.

I would have made we worked with the county recorders and did an audit.

>> Do you believe there was ram pantsramapt fraud in.

>> I don't know.

I know nine million dollars came into our state and, unfortunately, they were funding through the private grant monies through our election offices.

I don't support private funds.

>> Got rid of that.

>> Got rid of that last time and that was problematic and that never happened before, that we had private money come in.

>> Does that equate to being rigged?

>> I wouldn't use the word rigged.

I mean, we'll let the attorney general determine if there was wide-spread organized fraud.

There were instances of fraud as there are in any election and those need to be prosecuted.

>> The AG's office is work on some of those things, obviously.

We have no idea what all happened, but with those monies coming in, they were targeting a lot of democratic areas.

>> Why have there been no indictments.

>> He's had a few.

The unit in Yuma, there have been people indicted.

>> I'm talking about wide-spread fraud that would change the nature and course of an election and why have we not seen that?

>> I have no idea.

There's one attorney and three investigators.

>> Maybe you could write a hotly worded letworded letter to get to the bottom.

>> You've heard innuendo?

>> I wasn't innuendo.

There were 57,000 Emails and there should have been a pause.

>> A pause?

>> A pause and still no.

>> I would have certified the election on that day, like our governor did and our attorney general and our current Secretary of State because it was the right thing to do and the lawful thing to do.

>> We've heard a lot about restoring trust and Michelle, we'll start with you and how do you restore trust in Arizona's election process when there are so many rumors and innuendos and thing not been prosecuted?

How do you restore that trust?

>> I believe I'm uniquely positioned to do that because I've earned the respective respective respect of the public.

I've been diligent and very experienced.

You start by leading with example.

It's topped down and that's what is lacking here, leadership.

You need to work on a day-to-day basis.

You need to start with the board of supervisors, the county recorder.

You have to also work with the legislature.

You have to be well versed in dealing with the legal process, the attorneys and through those conversations, negotiations, through that dialogue and relationship building, you can then start to build trust and, of course, communicating and responding to the voters.

The number one most important constituent.

>> You talked about a relationship with the county and recorders and touch and you said you want to hold the mayor Maricopa county board accountable through a hidden agreement with the county recorder.

>> Yes.

>> Do you know about that?

>> No.

>> It was an intergovernmental agreement from 30 years ago and what happened was a lot of the responsibilities were held with the recorder because the board of supervisors gave that to the record through the intergovernmental agreement.

So what you had was a situation where nobody knew who was responsible.

And the agreement was outdated.

It hadn't been updated and I think that is emblematic of the problem.

Very difficult to find out who's responsible and start having dialogues to hold those individuals accountable.

>> What do you make of that?

>> It sounds like a problem politicians put in place.

>> What do you make of that?

>> It sounds problematic.

>> We seemed to move forward in the past 30 years.

>> Yes.

>> Did you discover the secret?

>> Yes.

>> It doesn't sound like you're attune to what's going on because if you were, you would know -- >> You just found it in this election and not previous elections?

>> And you've been there 12 years.

>> It was previous years.

>> You could have addressed that by now.

>> I introduced a bill to fix it and wept went on numerous television shows to talk about it and you can look it up so thank you for bringing that up.

>> Arizona was kind of a model for its election integrity.

And all of a sudden, 2020 hits and a certain presidential hits and claims fraud and you're you know what over tea kettle and what happened?

>> We had a poor Secretary of State if Maricopa county.

>> They're responsible for all of?

>> No, I think that they -- >> Actually, it started in 2018.

2018, there was a computer upgrade during the election and a lot of stuff went down and I was actually sitting in front of a polling place and people were going in and they were just randomly printed out ballots and not asking people for I.D.

because there was a computer upgrade and they came out to me and said, you ," know, there's a lot going on that we don't understand.

So I started reaching out to one of the 800 numbers posted by the republican and what is going on in the polling place and nobody could answer that question.

>> Actually, it started before that.

>> Was anyone prosecuted or any criminal doings?

>> No.

>> Why do you think that is?

>> I don't think there's enough evidence to figure out what the computer upgrade was.

>> I would take us back to 2016.

Do you remember the presidential preferential election, a debacle and that was the effective of poor management and leadership at the county level with the county supervisors and I was on this show talking about it.

>> Yes, you were.

>> If it was yesterday.

>> But, again, we're talking about willful fraud, rigging of election, stolen elections and believe me, we get all out of this.

We have talked about a lot about it.

I'm asking you, was the lex election stole someone.

>> It should be adjudicated in a court of law.

I don't think you could deny there was today, but you must prove it and evidence of it and it must go through the courts it's a matter of law.

>> I know right now, the AG is working with law enforcement and FBI and they were here a few weeks ago and turned over evidence from the drop boxes and cameras and the different pings and they dropped that stuff off partnership.I went to the meeting the following day after the hearing.

I don't know the information they have.

I didn't see it, but they exchanged their information and hopefully they're working on stuff if there is truly fraud.

>> 2000 mules, have you seen it.

>> Yes.

>> What do you think?

>> I think using the geoinformation on the pings, it's knowledgeable of tracking people.

When I go into a mall with my daughter, an app tells me to see a movie or there's a sale, so this information has been used before.

As Katherine and Greg mentioned in the vote hearing, this is something that "New York Times" covered in one of their news stories tracking the different pings of where people are.

It's been used before.

Law enforcement uses this.

>> Drop boxes need to go.

They were put in as a result of the Covid situation and there were hundreds of them put in and some decided where they would be placed by Adrian Fontez who put them in highly democratic precincts.

>> We had drop boxes prior to that.

You didn't see 2000 mule.

You don't need to see that to recognize that you need to stop ballot harvesting and they're the biggest facilitators.

I ban that in 2016, but I find it fascinating that Mr. Ling signed a letter from GPL stating there aren't problems in our elections and elections are run well and anyone doing election reform is a racist and participating in voter suppression.

>> You have to respond, please.

>> I think she's mischaracterizing that.

A letter from the business community that I signed that, you know, was in response to lots of radical ideas being put forward and without specifics put behind them and so we asked for a time out.

>> I do have a letter and we're talking about ideas for election integrity and there's a problem.

And you have a letter here from GPL signed by Mr. lane and it points out a bill that I passed to clean up the vote-by-mail roles with an attempt to suppress votes in Arizona and interfere with the right to vote.

>> Is that, was that -- >> The letter was about general bills.

>> But it went for three bills, cleaning up the voter roles was one and I.D.

>> And Shauna voted for that and we're on the same page for voter roles.

>> These are issues that have been brought to us and I assume they worked with constituents and they are brought to me that they experienced a problem.

>> I support common sense laws that make it easy to vote and hard to achieve.

>> These are common sense laws that the governor signed and in a fact-five video of how important it was to sign 1485.

>> The great news is that we all support legal I.D.

and all ballots.

>> Yes, I do.

>> Now you do, OK. >> I support the referendum on the ballot in November that calls for additional I.D.

on mail-in ballots.

I support that.

>> Secretary of State actually agree in the year 2022 that we need illegal I.D.

on all ballots.

[ Laughter ] >> You say on your website that you want to be a voice to sand up to those who seek to divide us.

>> Right.

>> This is the kind of stuff you talk about?

>> I have been in business my whole life and never persuaded anyone with contempt and we need cooperation and we need fair dealing.

We need professionalism and competence.

>> What does that even mean?

>> Do you want voter roles that are bloated?

>> No, I don't, and you know that, Michelle.

The specific bill -- >> 1485.

>> This was like the one this Hong Kong weatherOhiothat the Supreme Court upheld.

>> It is making it more difficult for Arizona to vote and you say Arizona have an election system that is safe, secure and convenient so why are you here if you believe that?

>> Let's go to what is said here.

Do you believe Arizona's elections are safe, secure and convenient as we sit right here?

>> No.

I believe that they have been a disaster and why they have some good moments, that there's a lot of room for improvement.

A lot of room for update.

improvement.

>> Safe and secure?

>> No, they're all managing the election differently.

I've traveled around the state and each time I go into a different county, people tell me they tried getting their kid who moved five or ten years ago off the societier roles voter roles and they won't remove them.

>> Are those things that would invite fraud?

>> Potentially, because they're mailing them out.

>> Would that invite fraud?

>> You have an issue with uniformity and it's important that the voter has the same experience in one county as it does in another and we don't have that.

We have different counties operating differently and we saw that.

Let me give you an example.

In 2018, we had some counties that would not count a mail-in ballot that was missing a signature after 7:00 p.m. and you had some counties counting ballots that were missing signatures after 7:00 p.m.

I had to introduce a big to fix that and another was compliance.

We have laws on the books and only as good as individuals enforcing them and complying.

>> Should counties be as responsible as they are for elections?

>> As long as they're going to do their job.

If they fail, then no.

>> It sounds like they're not doing their jobs.

>> I think that office as suffered from a lack of leadership.

>> In Maricopa county's office.

>> Secretary of State's office, who are looking for their next step to advance along the political ladder and who aren't thinking aggressively about what to do in a pro-active way and so thatsoelections have suffer body of that.

>> As in a different way before.

>> You need to make sure everybody is trained properly.

With the office closed the last two years, training fell by the wayside and you need to maybe sure all counties are on the same page.

>> Counties on the same page or Secretary of State's office take control and be done with it?

>> That's not the way it's set up.

>> Theoretically, would that make for a better system?

>> I think the system works well in the local level and the county should be involved.

>> You agree with that?

>> I think potentially can consolconsolidate stuff.

You have so many people doing so many different things and difficult to get everybody harmoniously operating and that has contributed to the lack of confidence in election.

>> I want to throw out a couple of claim.

>> When we talk about elections in Arizona being a disaster, that makes people have a lack of confidence.

It's not true.

We've had elections that have elected very good republicans in our party over the years and can they be improved?

Can any system be improved?

Yes, and that's what you do when you analyze an office and how to improve it, but you just don't throw it out and say it's a disaster.

That's a negative thing to say and not true.

>> My expectations for elections are, one, they're timely.

If you look over the course of many election cycles, that's delayed and cribs corrects contributes to lack of trust.

Before Katie Hobbs, she lost and so the public has been trying to tell us -- and I have been listening because I've been doing something at the legislature that they are dissatisfied, and not happy and if just a different belief, I would say you're out of time.

>> The yesterday that everything that we're hearing about the possibility of this potential for that fraud here, fraud here, rig that, stolen that, does that help voter confidence?

>> There's a lot of disinformation out there and I sat through a hearing with DSL in 2017 watching exactly what happened leading up to the 2016 election and there's a lot of misinformation from both political parties and foreign actors and I sat through a whole size of briefing.

As a house election member, the following session, I requested a hearing to explain some of those things to get back on track, to make sure people understand the dates for the voting and so forth.

Because there was so much information online, people didn't understand if they could vote in-person or if they had to get a ballot or what have you.

We need to make sure we have putting out good public service announcements to dispel some of the information out there.

>> Transparency and communication and this is not a new idea, but we need a very robust voter communication plan in this state.

People need to understand how the system works and how they can trust it and have faith.

>> Shauna, did you ask Congress to expect public electors as opposed to the electors voted by the public?

I signed to audit and I signed to all of those things.

>> Do you regret that decision?

>> I haven't thought too much about it.

>> How come?

>> There's a lot of things I've been focused on and I've been working with a lot of constituents fixing the problems we saw through the election and my constituents were asking me to ask for an audit and an alternate slate.

>> To have mean that were not the electors by way of the public vote just pro trump republican electors, is that something people voting for Secretary of State, they want their Secretary of State to be involved or have been involved in?

>> I have a bill over the legislature to oversee the process and we wouldn't be debating these issues and if that bill had seen the light of day and put the legislation back in process, we would not be talking about some of these things.

>> Back into the process to overturn the will of the vote?

>> I would never say that.

It was two-thirds majority after the joint legislative committee would have met, we would have been called into a special session and by a two-thirds majority.

>> That's not what the bill said.

The big said that the legislature could choose where the electors go and don't believe everyone's vote count.

>> That's not true.

So a lot of the bills I have introduced over the years, whenever I've introduced doesn't become the bill at the end of the day.

A lot of times we make sure things are looking differently and I said that all along.

So back when the bill was filed, I did a Washington examiner op-ed and went on a radio show and explained what I wanted to do.

Because of the hate and the death threats I got, we did not move the bill forward.

>> If the bill had passed in previous years, would that bill have applied in the 20 2020 election?

The idea of the legislation overturning the will of the voters?

>> I don't think so.

>> Anything that overturn the will of the voters is wrong if it's anywhere near that.

>> Well, I'm opposed to the popular vote -- to vote against it?

>> I wasn't in there, Michelle, but you were chair of the government election's committee and why did you have a vote?

>> I'm not afraid to vote no.

>> So as a chair, you have a chance to control what comes before your committee and you can have an informational hearing.

You can have a committee hearing and you decided to have a hearing and a vote on the national popular vote and President Trump would never won the national popular vote.

The national popular vote would have L.A. >> How could be opposed when you had to take the will of the vote away from the public and give it, give it to the legislature?

It's apples to apples and they do the same thing.

>> I disagree with you.

>> The person who really supports the national popular vote is not here tonight, mark Finchham, who signed the bill to take away the electoral college in Arizona and turn this into a popular vote state which would have been president Gore and president Hillary clinton.

>> The legislature overturning the will of the voters, that is something in a race for secretary of state -- >> I don't think so.

It's democratic process.

We're seating that responsibility to one person and the U.S. constitution, we put the time and place and manner and then we we'll would would have someone to vet this process for two years, making sure that the election offices were doing what they needed to do.

As we know, these processes are not all being worked on the same way in each election office.

I want to make sure the law is being followed.

If we had this committee set up, overseeing it two years to the process and we would have had all of the results come.

I certainly on JLBC and I vote only things all of the time and it would have been set up the same, everything was being followed and at that point, we would have been called into special session, OK, here we go, send it off, this is the right set and send to Secretary of State's office.

>> Why don't we leave it up to the will of the people.

>> I was going to ask the same question, is that better than the process we have now?

>> It is such a bad idea and one of the worse election ideas ever and shouldties qualify should disqualify you from the race because you should override the will of the people and this is.

>> Is this what you talk about at the legislature?

>> It didn't get assigned and there's a reason.

Republicans rejected it.

>> A lot of the republicans supported the idea.

>> Let's talk about the claims making the rounds and beau, 20,000 mail-in ballots after the deadline in Maricopa county and they were scanned before verification and are you buying that?

>> That's been investigated and proven not to be the case.

>> Are you buying that?

>> I haven't seen what was said and I can't comment.

>> Well, we've been hearing it and it's been making the rounds in the republican party.

>> On social media isn't making the rounds.

>> With the state republican party.

>> I would see the runback to be able to answer that question.

>> The allegation is that it came in late from the vendor who prints it.

>> 200,000 mismatched signatures in Maricopa county showing the verification process is deeply flawed, are you buying that?

>> I am not.

>> Shauna?

>> I know there's a case in Yavapai county to do signature verification and we'll see what happens with that case.

Think there's a decision this week, so who knows if it comes back to what your question is.

>> 200,000 and we're taking stuff from 2,000 mule.

>> Why?

>> Because a lot of people that are going to be voted for one of you believe this.

We've had a number of debates so far where 2000 mules have been held up as gospel and I want to know your response.

>> It's a simple one.

It shows -- and we all know -- that ballot harvesting exists.

When I championed the bill, we had testimony to that effect.

We know -- >> We can't put teeth in it if it's going on.

>> The drop-off boxes are the biggest facilitators.

She just wanted to videotape them.

>> Representative Hoffman was trying to get everybody on the bill and the house and September itsent itto the senate.

In the election the last election, they had manned drop boxes in some counties and some members liked that idea and some didn't like it and in statute, there's something that doesn't say you can use these.

If you are supposed to drop off a ballot, it's supposed to be a manned location.

Some are not manned.

In skull valley, not manned.

Some why, I think, it was in Cochese county, and there Hoffman wanted to make sure moving forward, dollars attached in we have drop boxes there's video surveillance.

>> We're overcomplicating it.

>> Drop boxes need to be a thing of the past.

>> Are those the kind of concerns that raise voter confidence or start giving rise to all sorts of conspiracy theories.

>> Drop boxes or not?

>> Yes.

>> And I think that goes to my point that you can't buy into all these things.

We need to deal with facts.

If we want faith in elections, the Secretary of State needs to put forward faith and understand the paws.

>> process.

>> You mentioned on your website you're an outside and why would Arizona want an outside as their chief election's office?

>> Some of this debate bring us to that conclusion.

The crazy political ideas that are brought fort forth in the legislature and the high.

>> You saying you wouldn't work with your constituents and wouldn't hear about it?

I didn't say that.

>> So you'll meet with your constituents on a variety of issues and experienced.

>> I think because it's not politics as usual.

>> Then why are you running on the coattails of the ultimate insiders?

>> What are talking about?

>> Jan brewer, that's a politician and you've put out a picture with John Kyle, he's a statesman, a long-standing one.

>> All people who have served our state well.

>> You call career politicians the opposite, saying they don't serve.

And they're just there for a paycheck.

>> Are there endorsements.

>> They're there for a paycheck.

>> You're putting words in our my mouth.

>> Defend what you say.

>> I'm glad I'm not running on the coattails of anybody.

And I'm glad I don't have an endorsements defining who I have.

>> Are endorsements a bad things from those folks?

>> I think when you're going to say you're an outsider and propped up by insiders championing a tax increase.

You do know this is a primary.

>> I'm well aware.

>> Jan Brewer who endorsed him did.

>> It's interesting you mentioned endorsements.

This is a republican primary and Donald Trump still careers a lot of water in the republican party in Arizona and endorsed none of you.

>> Mark Finchham he endorsed who is not here.

>> Why do you think he did not endorse any of you?

>> I assume he didn't call any of us on the stage.

I didn't ask to be certified in an election like he has.

That's not something I would do.

It's not possible, to the constitutional and it's a lot of gripping that's going on.

I can't imagine looking at my donors and supporters in the face and oh, yeah, I lied tow to you to get your contact information to ask for money.

It's deplorable.

>> Michelle?

>> The president and anyone else has the right.

>> That endorsement is popular among republicans in Arizona and this is a republican primary.

Is that not a big deal?

>> Your record is a big deal.

>> I voted for Donald Trump twice.

I'm sorry he's not president and I never met him.

>> Secretary of State's office, obviously as you mentioned lieutenant governor, next step up to the governor's office.

What qualifies you to be governor if something were to happen to the governor?

>> None of us are running for governor but we have to be prepared.

I'm a native Arizona and I know how to lead and bring people together and cooperate and I can bring the executive leadership that would be needed in that office to lead.

You're the CEO of the state of Arizona when you're the governor.

>> Should an outsider be the CEO?

>> Yes, you should.

>> What qualifies you?

>> I have the knowledge and experience and worked for Rick Perry and I understand what goes on with certain potential of that office and as chair of ways and means, I lead several issues and helped with the flat tax and speak to my constituents.

As Secretary of State, I welcome the dew point opportunity to make sure we're all working in the right direction and I personally think in the future, the governor, lieutenant governor, if this becomes a position should be on the same ticket.

>> We have seen it happen before, secretaries of state become lieutenant governor with some frequency and what qualifies you for that office?

>> I have been serving for the last 11 years, in my 12th year and acutely aware of how government runs.

You need to know how government runs operates and the different agencies and the ability you have to affect legislation and do executive orders and how you should run those agencies and as chair of ways and means, the chair of commerce committee and government committee and 11-year senior member and with the conservative credentials and agenda, I would make sure Arizona is well taken care of.

>> I want to get back to the election and we've had a good conversation here.

There are ideas floating around regarding voter access, improving access for voters as opposed to what's someone called voter suppression.

The permanent early.

>> Active early voting.

[ Laughter ] >> What does that help as far as getting more people to vote?

>> The vote-by-mail system?

>> Yes, thinning it out.

You haven't voted in a couple of cycles, you're gone.

>> Absolutely.

>> How does that improve access and.

>> Why we would want people who aren't by voting by mail to be voting by ballot?

>> Why wouldn't we?

>> Saving money.

>> A lot of these people have moved away.

>> It's about having a system that's credible and you don't want to have voters on the vote-by-mail roles that are not longer voting by mail.

They can vote in-person early or day of but it's irresponsible to send them a ballot in the mail if they're not longer voting by mail.

>> When critics call that voter suppression, how do you respond?

>> It's more rhetoric.

>> More rhetoric?

>> Whenever they are in active, they can vote in-person and not losing their chance to vote.

>> No, but the idea is to make it as easy as possible in a busy world to get out there and vote.

>> People are more lazy these day.

We have 27 days to vote, right?

So if you're sent an early ballot, to me it sounds like folks have moved away, right.

>> I was going to say, if you're not voting in Arizona, it's because you don't want to.

It's easy to vote in state of Arizona.

>> The active voting list is a common sense reform that needed to happen.

>> One of the bills on the letter -- >> Did he disagree?

>> I agree.

>> You agree with it now?

>> Yes.

>> What changed?

>> I think it's a good reform.

>> Do you regret putting your name on that letter Septembers September sent to us last year?

>> I have to regrets.

>> Extending voting hours?

>> They're sufficient the what they are.

>> I agree.

>> No?

>> I wouldn't extend them.

>> Not at all.

>> How far?

>> To make it easier.

>> 10:00?

>> Making it easier to vote.

There it's easy to vote in Arizona.

>> Easier.

>> Why are you concentrating on that.

>> It's already very convenient and we want to make it secure.

>> OK, let's talk about security and access and convenience.

When does the push for accuracy and security cross the line into voter suppression.

Michelle?

>> You tell me.

>> I'm asking you.

Can it?

>> It's possible.

But these priorities have to live mar harmony Harmonuously.

>> Is it not too much for the public to ask to extend voting hours.

>> They're not asking for that.

If you've been traveling the state, that's not what they're asking for.

>> I haven't heard that at all.

>> I have not either.

>> If they have not asked for it, you won't do it?

>> It's not necessary and that's not the complaint and what they are talking about and asking for.

>> You agree with that?

>> Yes.

>> Same-day voter registration.

>> I don't support it.

>> Why not?

Why don't you support it?

>> Because it's going to be very hard to manage.

So if someone moves here from another state prior to the election, they decide to vote and have been here long enough to vote and why we would give that victim to opportunity to see and they didn't have voting rights restored.

People may not be able to vote.

>> It's a terrible idea the Democrats would love to see happen and no way to have accurate verification.

>> Michelle?

>> I oppose it.

>> Vote counting machines, should they be used?

>> Yes.

>> Beau?

>> Absolutely.

>> You do a mix of hand counts and tabulation and no way to be Internet accountability.

>> Is there Internet capability?

>> Absolutely not.

>> We'll see.

>> I think it's been proven there is.

>> Dominion was outlawed in another county in new Mexico because of these issues.

>> Right.

And some of these issues have been debunked, have they not?

>> I don't know exactly what happened in new medication oh, new Mexico, but they decided to ban dominion and people want to make sure from the testimony we've heard, we don't want any machines inside of the election offices within the polling places that are accessible by the Internet.

>> And they're not.

>> If you come to the legislature, you will hear from people and out talking, these are things before us.

As potentially Secretary of State, these are issues that you might have to address and talk to individuals.

>> We'll do that through fax.

>> Let's start with you, should early voting be banned in Arizona?

>> Absolutely not.

>> Republican party thinks it should be.

>> I disagree and mark Finchham disagree.

90% vote by mail, so if we want to do a referendum to see if people want to do away with that as Secretary of State, I would execute upon those orders, but I think the voters have voted and they like voting by mail.

>> Michelle?

>> The gold standard of voting is in-person.

If you want the vote-by-mail, you need safeguards.

>> The vote-by-mail should be stopped until you have more safeguards.

>> You need stronger voter I.D.

verification and in an ideal world, the best way to run it is to request a ballot every election cycle.

>> In an ideal world, should early voting be stopped?

>> Not if you have those safeguards, no.

>> You don't have those safeguards, should it be stopped?

>> I think need the safeguards.

>> The republican party wants to stop, going to court to try to stop early voting.

Do you agree with that?

>> No.

>> No, OK. >> You want to take a shot at this?

>> Sure.

There was a bill last session, representative Payne, to get rid of the early ballots and sun city, whenever I talk to folks, people in sun city, they like the early ballots you need them more secure.

Legal I.D.

in November and this hopefully dispels this and from the early 2000s, they raised the red flag saying there were problems with the early ballots if you get back to this, make sure the ballots, if we keep them, need to be more secure.

>> More safeguards.

>> It's a long-standing, 30-year-old system in this state refined and needs product improvement and I think we agree this referendum in November, which would call for further I.D.

is a good idea.

>> You can only harvest mail-in ballots we banned that and that was a biproduct of that system.

>> We have about a minute left.

I need like a headline from each one of you because we're running out of time and Shauna, why should republican voters should you as opposed to these other people in.

>> I isI have a proven track record of getting things done and I can't wait to go into this office and fix some of the problems.

>> Beau, headline, please.

Again, there's a lot of agreement and you don't agree as much.

>> If you like the way politicians are doing things, I'm not your guy.

But if you want a fresh perspective, I'm your guy.

>> I have done things consistently year in, year out and every other candidate has done nothing.

>> Headlines are over and time for closing statements and going in reverse order of the opening remarks, we start with Shauna.

>> Hi.

I hope I can earn your support.

As you have seen, three republican candidates who will be better whatever the Democrat is.

Make sure you're supporting the most conservative to win the general election and I'm that person.

I like forward to working with you.

I'm be doing some townhall meetings.

Come out to the rural communities and you've been asking and I will make sure I'm leaning on this issue.

I will promise to check my politics at the door.

What does that mean?

I don't want a bunch of Partisan politics in my office.

I won't be doing any political party events.

Bolickforpolitics.com thank you so much.

>> Thank you and now the closing statement from beau lane.

>> This has been a great discussion and I think my colleagues I thank you and I am not a politician.

So if you're looking for politics as usual, I'm probably not your choice.

But if you want a fresh face, fresh perspective to lead the state in the right way, I should be your choice.

I also want to mention that if you're looking to have Arizona go to the popular vote, I am certainly not your candidate and that would be a gentleman by the name of mark Finchham, but I look forward to serving as Secretary of State with professionalism and competence.

Go >> Finishing up with Michelle.

>> It's been wonderful to participate in this debate tonight.

As someone who has championed more than a dozen of the strongest election integrity bills over the last decade, I'm the only one in this race who knows how to get stuff done, who knows that it has to go beyond empty platitudes and promises and chest pounding and that you have to move the needle, that you have to advance the agenda and what's the agenda?

Making sure that we have elections that we can trust and believe in.

I have been doing that for over a decade and I'm excited to serve you as your next Secretary of State.

I am a strong conservative and the only candidate in this race who can win the general election and get to work for you.

Visit my website at electmichelle.com.

>> Thank you to all candidates our next debate will feature the republican candidates for U.S. senate and that will be Tuesday, June 21st at 5:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. right here on Arizona horizon and livestreams at AZP AZPBS.org and that is it for now.

I'm Texas Simons Ted Simons and thank you for joining us.

You have a great evening.