Katie Hobbs, Arizona’s Secretary of State, has rejected a recall petition against RINO House Speaker Rusty Bowers, despite there being well over the number of signatures required.
The recall petition for Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers had gathered 24,551 signatures, after being organised by the Arizona Patriot Party and coalition partners in the America Restored movement, 10% over the required number of 22,331. Bowers had been slammed by more conservative Arizonans for being against the America First movement and President Trump, and part of the swamp within the state’s legislature.
However, on the same day that the recall petition was submitted to the office of Katie Hobbs, Arizona’s Secretary of State, the petition to unseat Bowers was rejected. In a letter from Sambo Dul, the State Elections Director under Hobbs, said that they were rejecting “2,040 petition sheets because a copy of the date-stamped application for serial number was not attached to the petition sheet,” and that therefore “no sheets were eligible for signature review by the Secretary of State’s Office,” with “zero signatures [being] eligible for verification by the County Recorder.”
In a statement, America Restored said that the Secretary of State has “voided the voices of 24,551 citizens” by rejecting the recall petition. “The people have spoken on this issue. Speaker Bowers should resign immediately,” they said, adding that they have turned over all relevant documents and evidence to legal counsel in order to explore legal options.
#ResignRusty pic.twitter.com/5kf636KIp5
— Patriot Party of Arizona (@PatriotPartyAZ) June 18, 2021
“The people have spoken,” said Steve Daniels, the President of the Arizona Patriot Party, “but they continue to silence our voices.” He added that despite the shutdown, the fact that they had gathered well over 24,000 signatures was “unmatched” because of the resistance they faced throughout the process. National File reported on Daniel’s recent arrest at a Chandler School Board meeting in front of hundreds of parents, which he believes was “politically motivated.”
Bowers had been conviced that he would be facing a recall in the upcoming election cycle, according to Arizona Central, and that he was “stunned” at the rejection of the signatures. “I should ask for an audit of these signatures,” he said. “There could be bamboo in those [signature] papers, there could be blue Sharpies,” mocking the current forensic audit taking place in Maricopa County of the results of the 2020 election, which he categorically refused to support.
As evidenced by his above remarks, Bowers is not a fan of election integrity. National File reported last December that Bowers in his position as Speaker refused to commit to a legislative hearing over the results of the 2020 presidential election, claiming that he couldn’t enforce the Constitution regarding presidential electors. He was also not that publically upset when Trump-hating Governor Doug Ducey vetoed 22 critical bills last month, including some on election integrity and banning critical race theory, claiming it was merely “an important civics lesson” to not ignore the Governor when creating legislature.