Election-denying Arizona Republican who trashed mail-in voting used it over 90% of the time since 2004
On Wednesday, Arizona-based journalist Dillon Rosenblatt reported that Mark Finchem, a far-right Arizona state senator running for Secretary of State, has voted by mail more than 90 percent of the time since 2004 — despite spreading conspiracy theories about the practice, vowing to curtail it if elected, and claiming that "I don't care for mail-in voting. That's why I go to the polls."
"Finchem has been a strong advocate of ending no-excuse mail-in voting for all Arizonans which has been in place for decades and used by at least 80% of the electorate. Finchem during his debate against Democratic challenger Adrian Fontes, the former Maricopa County recorder, last month claimed he always votes at the polls," wrote Rosenblatt . "This is a lie."
Rosenblatt proceeded to back up his claim with hard data.
"Until the 2022 primary election, Finchem voted early and by mail in every single election since the 2004 general except for the 2007 City of Tucson general election. That’s 28 of 30 total elections (including this year’s)," he explained.
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"The Pima County Recorder’s Office records for Finchem only went through April, but they told me he did vote at the polls for the August primary where he won in a four-person (but really two-person) race to be the GOP nominee for secretary of state, which oversees the state’s elections and sets the Elections Procedures Manual," Rosenblatt continued.
Finchem, one of a number of candidates for state election offices around the country who endorse former President Donald Trump's Big Lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, was also president at the Capitol during the attack on January 6, although he claims not to have known an insurrection was in progress.
He has also come under fire for attacking his Democratic opponent, Adrian Fontes, with a QAnon-inspired anti-Semitic trope. At the candidate debate last month, he was panned by experts for his attempts to back up election conspiracy theories.