Arizona’s Open Primary Election Fate Lies in Voters’ Hands, Judge Rules

A ballot proposition aimed at reforming Arizona’s primary election system has officially qualified for the November ballot, following a ruling by a judge on Thursday.

Known as Proposition 140, or the Make Elections Fair Act, this citizen initiative seeks to amend the Arizona Constitution by establishing an open primary system. Under this plan, all candidates for federal, state, and local offices would compete in a single primary election, eliminating the traditional party-specific primaries. Notably, the system would also include politically unaffiliated candidates.

In this new format, every registered voter would have the opportunity to select from all candidates in the primary. The candidates who receive the most votes would advance to the general election, regardless of their party affiliation.

“We are eager to defend the trial court’s decision before the Arizona Supreme Court and intensify our efforts to secure Prop 140’s passage in November,” stated Sarah Smallhouse, chair of the political action committee advocating for the initiative.

However, the proposition faces opposition, with critics arguing that it breaches the state constitution’s single-subject rule for ballot initiatives. Despite this, on August 9, the same judge ruled that the initiative complies with the constitutional requirement.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Frank Moskowitz confirmed on Thursday that Proposition 140 had garnered 536,216 valid signatures, surpassing the necessary threshold of 383,923 for constitutional amendments to appear on the ballot in 2024, after the committee submitted over 540,000 signatures.

The committee also recently triumphed in another legal dispute, where a judge ruled that the language lawmakers had used to describe the ballot initiative was misleading. This ruling, too, could be contested in the Arizona Supreme Court. Lawmakers have until August 29 to propose revised language for the court’s approval.