GOP Arizona State Senator Rejects Controversial Voting Bill Pending Election Audit

A poll worker sorts ballots inside the Maricopa County Election Department in Phoenix on Nov. 5, 2020. Republican voting bills in Arizona are on hold after a GOP state senator came out in opposition.

Olivier Touron / AFP via Getty Images

A controversial election bill was surprisingly voted down in Arizona on Thursday.

A Republican state senator broke ranks and voted against a GOP-backed measure that could remove tens of thousands of voters from the state’s early ballot mailing list.

Sen. Kelly Townsend voted twice earlier this year for Senate Bill 1485, which would remove voters from the state’s popular Permanent Early Voting List — a list of voters who are automatically mailed ballots for every election in which they’re eligible to vote — if they don’t use their ballot at least once in two straight two-year election cycles.