Despite partisans’ best efforts, voters will have the opportunity to abolish party primaries and ensure all eligible Arizonans have a voice
PHOENIX – Arizona voters will have the opportunity to abolish party primaries this November, following a judge’s ruling that an open primaries initiative backed by Make Elections Fair AZ has enough signatures to qualify for the general election ballot. Arizona is the fourth state to certify enough signatures for an open primaries initiative for this year, following Idaho, South Dakota, and Nevada. Similar initiatives for open all-candidate primaries in Colorado and Montana are expected to qualify in the coming weeks. Since the early 1900s, there’s never been more than three election-related ballot initiatives in any single year.
Closed presidential primaries in Arizona deny nearly 1.5 million registered independents - about a third of all voters – the right to vote in elections that their taxes fund. In Arizona’s congressional primaries last month, a mere 4% of voters elected nearly 80% of the state’s U.S. House members due to uncompetitive elections and restrictive primary rules
The ballot initiative aims to fix Arizona’s “Primary Problem.” It would abolish separate party primaries and replace them with an all-candidate primary, where all candidates, regardless of party, appear on the same ballot and every voter can participate.
The initiative survived a barrage of legal challenges before qualifying. The conservative Arizona Free Enterprise Club attempted to claim the initiative was unconstitutional, while Democrats sought to invalidate scores of voter signatures. Finally, a judge ruled Monday that a bipartisan panel of lawmakers had drafted a “misleading” description of the initiative and ordered them to rewrite it.
Nick Troiano, Unite America Executive Director and author of The Primary Solution, issued the following statement celebrating the qualification:
“Despite partisans’ best efforts, it’s the voters who will have the final word in shaping Arizona’s elections. Hundreds of thousands of Arizonans have successfully demanded fairer elections, and started a conversation on what’s possible for The Grand Canyon State.
Like the five other open primary initiatives headed toward the ballot this year, Arizona’s initiative sends a clear message: Taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook for partisan elections. And every eligible voter should have the freedom to vote for any candidate, regardless of party, in every taxpayer-funded election.
Some politicians may not agree with those basic principles of fairness, but we’re proud to be on the side of the millions of voters.”
