(The Center Square) – Arizona state Rep. Rachel Keshel, R-District 17, is calling for hand-marked, hand-counted paper ballots as she applauds President Donald Trump’s executive order for restoring transparent and verifiable elections.
The order is called “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections.” It was signed by Trump on March 25.
It’s difficult to do an audit of ballots in Arizona with the current voting machines and tabulators, Keshel told The Center Square. She explained the machines take a number for each ballot and transfers that into a bar code.
It’s hard to determine if votes were counted properly and correctly when you’re looking at ballots with bar codes, which is Trump’s point, Keshel said.
The order comes at a time when Republicans have been skeptical of election results and not just in Arizona. Keshel said she has also heard concerns from Democrats and independents. As a result, Keshel said she believes the state needs to take steps to “get some of that faith back into our election process” and quickly.
Keshel is calling for immediate action in various ways.
First, Keshel wants Arizona to begin preparing now to “conduct the 2026 elections using hand-marked, hand-counted paper ballots.” Keshel does not want machines or black boxes.
Second, Keshel calls on state and county election officials to stop funding “non-compliant electronic systems and cancel maintenance contracts that will become obsolete” under federal standards.
Third, Keshel thinks the Arizona Legislature should exercise its authority and allow counties to become what she calls “paper ballot counties” to ease concerns and ensure secure, transparent elections.
“Americans’ votes are very sacred, and I talked to a lot of constituents that don’t even know if their vote is counted properly anymore or if it even counts,” said Keshel. “I’ve been on the frontlines of election integrity trying to push some legislation just to start to instill faith back into our election process. Unfortunately they’ve either been met in the past with the veto stamp, or they get stuck over in the Senate, so I’m going to keep plugging away. But it does help when we have President Trump doing things like this like this executive order to ensure that everything is in compliance with federal law.”
Keshel said she will look closely at introducing legislation next session to coincide with Trump’s executive order.
Areas within Keshel’s district include East Tucson, Marana, Mount Lemmon, Oro Valley and Picture Rocks.
