(The Center Square) – Important decisions at the local level in Arizona are being made in off-cycle elections with low voter turnout, according to a new report.
The Goldwater Institute released a report showing that off-cycle elections, which occur in odd-numbered years, have much lower voter turnout than on-cycle elections, which happen during even-numbered years.
The report showed recent off-cycle elections in Arizona’s 10 largest cities have had an average voter participation rate of 26.9%, compared to 71.5% in recent on-cycle elections. This represents a nearly 45% difference.
Henry Thomson, an Arizona State University associate professor, told The Center Square that Arizona has a major problem with low voter turnout in off-cycle elections.
Thomson, who authored the report, said a small number of voters are making “really big decisions” for local governments that “really matter to people’s lives.”
According to Thomson, Arizonans vote on city council, mayoral and school board races, as well as local policy measures, in odd-numbered years.
He cited the March voter-approved Pima County RTA Next transportation measure, which will cost $2.67 billion and fund public infrastructure projects in the area for the next 20 years. The measure had only a 32% voter turnout.
In addition, the report cited a Phoenix voter-approved special bond election in 2023 that authorized $500 million in spending but had only 22% voter turnout.
Some cities in the Southwest have their local elections in even-numbered years. They vary from Goleta, just north of Santa Barbara, Calif., to the Arizona capital of Phoenix. The Goleta City Council in a 2002 ordinance cited its reasons as higher voter participation and reduced costs through consolidation with the statewide general election.
Denise Archibald, Phoenix’s city clerk, told The Center Square by email that the city’s “regular mayor and council elections are consolidated.”
“The City of Phoenix Council referred a charter amendment to Phoenix voters in August 2018, moving the city’s regular mayor and council election to November of even years, to coincide with the state general elections, in part to increase voter turnout,” Archibald said.
The Goldwater Institute report cited an example of low voter turnout in 2023 in Maricopa County, home to Phoenix. When school districts sought approval for more than $4 billion in school bonds, only 25% of county voters participated.
“Low turnout leads to a significantly different turnout from the broader electorate, which is a problem for democratic accountability and responsiveness,” the report said.
“If only a biased segment of the population participates in elections, and small minorities within that segment are very well-organized, we should expect that politicians’ policies will reflect the preferences and interests of this segment over those of the population at large,” the report added.
According to Thomson, voters should ask themselves why decisions in local government are made by a small percentage of voters.
Thomson told The Center Square that Arizona local governments are allowed to hold elections in odd-numbered years. In 2018, the state Legislature passed a law that attempted to require all local government elections, except recall and special elections, to occur during on-cycle or even-numbered election years.
However, two years later, the city of Tucson challenged the law, and the Arizona Supreme Court ruled in the city’s favor.
In 2021, the state Supreme Court’s ruling said, “Whether to align municipal elections with state and national elections or hold them in different years is purely a matter of municipal interest and not a statewide concern.”
Arizona law “cannot apply to require a city to consolidate local elections with state and national elections if its charter provides otherwise,” the ruling added.
Looking ahead, the Goldwater Institute report said, “Reforming election timing is essential to the future of Arizona democracy.”
“When elections that determine enormous fiscal commitments attract so little participation, democratic accountability is diminished in favor of special interests,” the report noted.
The Center Square reached out to Maricopa County and the city of Tucson, but did not receive responses before press time.
