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Election denial runs rampant among some Arizona Republicans, from the campaign trail to the halls of the state Capitol, where Rep. John Fillmore spent the last year trying to upend elections.

In January, Fillmore sponsored one of the more controversial and consequential bills to overhaul the election process, all in the name of what he called a need to get back to “1958-style voting.”

“Quite frankly, there are some people, and I will be the first to say that is me, I am one, that will say that I believe in 2020 we had some serious concerns that were never really responded (to),” he said at the time.

Among other things, Fillmore’s legislation would have required ballots in all future elections be counted by hand; required votes to be cast only on Election Day; and repealed laws providing universal access to early ballots in Arizona.

That’s music to the ears of former President Donald Trump, who visited Arizona last week to repeat his election lies.

“The election was rigged and stolen,” Trump said to raucous applause, “and now our country is being systematically destroyed because of it.”

But for all the deniers in Arizona, there are still believers.

“Yeah, for all the noise that has been made regarding election administration, from the user’s perspective, it’s going to look very similar to the 2020 experience,” said Stephen Richer, who was elected over a Democrat as Maricopa County recorder during the allegedly rigged 2020 vote.

Richer’s quick to...

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