Make Elections Fair Arizona Begins Initiative Drive
On September 18, 2023, Make Elections Fair Arizona filed a petition with Arizona’s Secretary of State to amend the Arizona constitution to remove Republican and Democrat control of our elections. If the initiative effort is successful, Arizonans will have an opportunity to vote for the person best suited to the office, regardless of party affiliation.
The initiative would authorize a single primary ballot listing all qualified candidates regardless of party affiliation.
The current system is controlled by the major parties – Republican candidates appear on Republican primary ballots and the same for Democrats. Independent voters (the largest group of Arizona registered voters) must request either a Republican or Democratic ballot in advance of the election. This initiative, a proposed constitutional amendment, would allow voters to vote “cross-ballot” for candidates from any party or no party.
The initiative does not prohibit the use of ranked choice voting (RCV), but it does not specifically authorize RCV. Another initiative has been proposed to specifically authorize RCV.
“If this initiative is successful the parties will no longer be allowed to use public funds for the administration of political party elections”
The initiative directs the Arizona legislature to enact a law prescribing the number of candidates for each office that may advance to the general election. For offices from which one candidate is to be elected, two to five candidates may advance from the primary. If the legislature doesn’t enact a law specifying the number of candidates that may advance to the general election, the Secretary of State is authorized to determine the specific requirements.
The initiative also standardizes the signature requirements for candidates to qualify for the ballot. Currently, the requirements are skewed to the advantage of Republican and Democratic candidates. For instance, a major party candidate for office must obtain a minimum ¼ of one percent of the total qualified state signers, in order to qualify for the ballot. An Independent, on the other hand, must obtain three percent of the total registered Independent or non-affiliated voters in order to qualify for the ballot. In general, this can mean that independent candidates must obtain roughly six times the number of signatures to qualify for the ballot, compared with major party candidates.
If this initiative is successful the parties will no longer be allowed to use public funds for the administration of political party elections including 1) presidential preference, 2) precinct committee officers, and 3) partisan primaries to nominate a candidate for office. Public funds may be used to administer presidential preference elections IF any person regardless of party affiliation is allowed to vote for any qualified candidate.
To learn more about this initiative effort check out the Make Elections Fair Arizona website.
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