Judge rules that Arizona voters will decide on implementing open primary elections.
A judge ruled Thursday that a ballot proposition to end partisan primaries in Arizona has gathered enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot.
Proposition 140, also known as the Make Elections Fair Act, is a citizen initiative that seeks to amend the Arizona Constitution to establish an open primary system. Under this system, all candidates for federal, state, and local offices would compete in a single primary election, rather than in separate partisan primaries. The proposed system would also include politically unaffiliated candidates.
In this open primary, all registered voters could choose from all the candidates, with the top vote-getters advancing to the general election, regardless of party affiliation.
“The committee looks forward to defending the trial court’s decision before the Arizona Supreme Court, and is eager to focus our efforts on Prop 140’s passage in November,” said Sarah Smallhouse, chair of the political action committee supporting the initiative, in a press release.
However, Prop. 140 still faces a legal challenge from opponents who argue that it violates the state constitution’s single-subject rule for ballot initiatives. On August 9, the same judge ruled that the initiative does not violate this rule.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Frank Moskowitz determined Thursday that Prop. 140 had 536,216 valid signatures, exceeding the minimum requirement of 383,923 valid signatures for constitutional amendments to qualify for the 2024 ballot.
The committee recently won another challenge when a judge ruled that the language written by lawmakers to describe the ballot initiative to voters was “misleading.” This ruling can also be appealed to the Arizona Supreme Court.
Lawmakers have until August 29 to submit revised language to the court for approval.
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