PHOENIX – The Arizona Secretary of State’s Community Advisory Council met today for its last meeting under the Hobbs administration.

Secretary Katie Hobbs presented two awards during today's meeting. One was for the John Lewis Youth Leadership Award to 2022 recipient Anusha Natarajan. She is currently serving as an Andrew Goodman Fellow at Arizona State University. You can find more information on this award and the recipient here: https://azsos.gov/about-office/media-center/press-releases/1468

Secretary Hobbs also presented the National Association of Secretaries of State’s prestigious Medallion Award to lifelong civic engagement champion and chairperson of the Community Advisory Council, Mel Hannah.

“It is with some remorse, but also with great pride that we just held our last meeting of the Arizona Secretary of State's Community Advisory Council under the Hobbs administration,” Hannah said. “Remorse, because it was the last session under the great leadership of the creator of the CAC—the honorable Katie Hobbs. I've had the extreme pleasure and honor of chairing this group of statewide citizens with a single purpose—information, education, registration, and vote. This hard-working body of folks have diligently carried this mission to all corners of the great state of Arizona. We’re going to miss the leadership of Secretary Hobbs but looking forwarding to carrying on this important mission with the new administration under the newly elected leadership of Mr. Adrian Fontes, Arizona’s Secretary of State-Elect!”

The council first convened in January 2019 as one of Sec. Hobbs’ first actions. The council, which consists of various local community leaders, discusses issues related to voter registration and identified gaps in services. Together, the council builds plans to address underserved communities, and established a task force to enact those plans.

Since then, the group has served as a clearinghouse for communication and networking for government, advocacy groups, and non-profits in and around voter education, engagement, registration, and participation, with emphasis on under-represented communities.

Some of the highlights of the council included efforts to identify needs and connect community groups ahead of the 2020 elections. Members included advocates from groups such as the Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona, Mi Familia Vota, Native Vote, LUCHA, ASU, NAU, OneArizona and engagement and outreach staff from the counties. The group became an important part of communication and collaboration efforts during the election cycle, when they answered calls for polling sites, poll workers, volunteers and translators.

The Council was instrumental in the group’s response to the global pandemic, helping to pivot to online outreach efforts, connecting potential voting locations with county elections workers, which contributed to the record-breaking participation in the 2020 elections. This resulted in an honorable mention from the national Election Assistance Commission for their innovative work earlier this year.

“I will be forever grateful for the work this council has done, because it truly could not have been accomplished without them,” Sec. Hobbs said. “I know that they will continue doing great work under the Fontes administration to help underserved communities have the tools they need to participate in their democracy.”

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