Other states produce results on Election Day, and Arizona may do so too.

Although the final result of the presidential election between Trump and Vice President Harris was known in the pre-dawn hours of November 6, the late announcement of Arizona’s contribution to the election could have caused unnecessary anxiety and mistrust among men and women across the country if it had been a closer result. We know that this should not be the case in our elections. That’s why we continue to hope that our neighbors across the country will reflect common sense and bipartisan election reforms to bring more transparency and certainty to Arizona’s system.

Florida has quickly emerged as one of the models for election integrity and certainty in the United States. Over the past few cycles, the state has managed to count most of its votes within hours of polls closing. Most, if not all, races are called, electoral votes are apportioned, and the nation quickly moves on to other states.

This commitment to fairness, transparency and certainty in Florida’s elections didn’t just happen. Who can forget the 2000 Hanging Chad fiasco between former President George W. Bush and former Vice President Al Gore? Florida has realized that its citizens deserve immediate answers to their elections, and its officials have done their job on behalf of their constituents. In the 2024 general election, more than 3 million Floridians voted by mail, more than 5 million voted early and more than 2.5 million voted on Election Day. Ninety-nine percent of those ballots were counted before midnight—a remarkable feat!

What makes Florida’s electoral system the envy of much of the Western world? Florida has key policies governing elections that ensure the utmost integrity, transparency, certainty and security. These include clear divisions between mail-in voting, early voting and Election Day voting. Mail-in ballots can be returned at early voting locations, but on Election Day they must be brought to the comptroller’s office, the equivalent of a county registrar in Arizona, rather than dropped off at each polling place. There are no envelopes during early voting, which is quite logical. Envelopes should be used for voters voting by mail, not for in-person voting. In Florida, early voters are counting the same ballots in person on the same machines used on Election Day. They just do it during early voting. Finally, Election Day voters cast their ballots on Election Day by counting ballots at polling places. In addition, Florida law requires counties to publish the number of mail-in ballots received and uncounted on election night, addressing an issue that has puzzled many voters across the country who are unable to determine how many ballots remain outstanding in their respective states.

My team and I, along with several senators, representatives and county elected officials, recently met with the Florida Secretary of State to discuss how to implement these common-sense reforms in Arizona. I hope Democrats and county officials will join us in our efforts to improve our election systems for the Arizona voters we are privileged to serve. The integrity, transparency, efficiency and certainty of elections should not be a partisan issue. Unfortunately, this has become a fight between Republicans and Democrats, with many of our friends on the left unwilling to consider reforms that could give our voters more assurances regarding their sacred right to vote.

Let’s look at one bill that my Senate Republican colleagues and I tried to pass in 2023. It required those who chose to hold onto their mail-in ballots until the Friday before Election Day to meet the same voter ID requirements as everyone else when returning their ballots. newsletters. This legislation would not only ensure that everyone who goes to the polls on Election Day is treated fairly, but it would also eliminate the need to verify signatures on hundreds of thousands of ballots, which delays results by days or weeks in our state. This sensible bill passed along party lines in both the Arizona Senate and House of Representatives and was vetoed by our Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs. The governor offered little justification for her actions, simply stating that “this bill fails to effectively address the real issues facing Arizona voters.” There have been other reasonable bills that Republicans have failed to gain Democratic support over the last couple of years that would have helped speed up election results in our state.

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Even as our push to speed up Arizona’s election results on election night is gaining more support, including an unlikely endorsement from a columnist for our state’s flagship newspaper, Hobbs and her Democratic allies in the state Legislature appear to be stuck in business, not wishing to consider the possibility of significant reforms that would bring more certainty to our system. This is a disgrace and does not help any of our constituents.

In January, the Arizona Senate and House of Representatives will reconvene for another legislative session, and I will immediately reintroduce bills that would reform our state’s election system. We must make decisions that are unique to our state, but no one should be afraid or resist copying a system that works, like Florida’s. Again, election integrity, transparency and certainty are not red and blue issues. This is an American thing. Our constituents deserve to know that all of their elected officials are working together to ensure maximum confidence in our systems, especially when it comes to our votes.

Warren Petersen is the President of the Arizona State Senate.