SB 1141 Arizona Senate · 57th Legislature - Second Regular Session

presidential electors; presidential candidates; vacancy

SB 1141 amends Arizona law to clarify procedures for presidential electors when a winning presidential or vice presidential candidate dies or withdraws before electors cast their votes. The bill requires electors to vote for the successor candidate nominated by the candidate's political party, following the party's rules. Additionally, it states that if an elector refuses to vote as required or is absent, their position becomes vacant and must be filled by an appointment from the state committee chair of the elector's party, with the replacement filing necessary paperwork promptly. This bill directly affects Arizona's presidential electors and ensures the state's electoral votes are cast for a party-designated candidate in these specific circumstances.
Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Mar 2026
Senate Passage
Feb 2026
House Passage
Governor
Introduced Jan 15, 2026 Last action Mar 26, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Version Senate Engrossed Version (02/23/2026) · 4 edits · Feb 23, 2026
MODERATE
The bill was reformatted from a standard legislative draft to an official Senate Engrossed version, updating the title and session details. Substantively, the text was edited to modernize language (changing '1956' to 'quadrennially thereafter'), clarify the conditions under which electors vote for successors (adding 'incapacitated'), and adjust capitalization for consistency. These changes ensure the law is clear and current without altering the core mechanism for filling vacancies.
Scope change
The scope of the bill remains focused on Arizona's presidential electors, electoral college votes, and vacancy procedures; no new entities or jurisdictions were added.
TECHNICAL

The year '1956' was removed and replaced with 'quadrennially thereafter' to reflect the current election cycle frequency rather than a historical starting date.

Capitalization was standardized throughout the text, changing all-caps phrases to sentence case and vice versa for consistency.

Minor punctuation and spacing errors were corrected, such as removing stray spaces before periods and fixing line breaks.

REQUIREMENT

The conditions for electors voting for a successor candidate were updated to include 'incapacitated' alongside 'dies' or 'withdraws'.

Floor votes · Senate Feb 23, 2026

How they voted

270
Passed · 3 other
Total votes 30
Feb 23, 2026
D Democratic13
11 Yea 2
84% Yea
R Republican17
16 Yea 1
94% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
10
Key actions
4
Committee
2
Amendments
1
Mar 26, 2026
Lower · Passed
DP
lower
Feb 23, 2026
Upper · Passed
PASSED
upper
Feb 23, 2026
Upper · Passed
DPA
upper
Jan 26, 2026
Upper · Passed
DP
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Shawnna Bolick
Shawnna Bolick
RRepublican
AZ
2