(The Center Square) – Prop. 140 will not pass in Arizona.
At 94% of precincts reporting, 59% of Arizonans voted against the measure, joining half a dozen other states to vote against ranked choice voting ballot propositions.
Prop. 140 would have eliminated partisan primaries, giving all voters the same primary ballot. The two candidates with the highest number of votes would advance to the general election. Additionally, if more than two candidates are advancing, it would establish a ranked choice voting system. Other parts of the initiative would have limited public funding of most campaigns and eliminated primaries for most city elections.
However, multiple groups including No on Prop. 140 and the Arizona Free Enterprise Club have spoken out against the proposition, saying that it would cause the “Californization” of Arizona.
“We are so grateful for the Arizonans who stood up to oppose this radical transformation of our elections systems,” reads a statement from Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb and former Arizona Supreme Court Justice Andrew Gould, co-chairs of the No on Prop 140 Committee. “Voters of all political persuasions wisely concluded that Prop 140 would do irreparable harm to our state if enacted. Arizona elections must be free, fair, and transparent, and that is what our system remains after this just result.”
The Arizona Free Enterprise Club had warned that Prop. 140 would give power to the Secretary of State to decide how many candidates would qualify for the general election, result in some races where candidates from only one political party are on the ballot and increase the delay in election results.
Make Elections Fair, the group behind Prop. 140, advocated for the measure, saying that it would make elections fairer and create equal opportunities for voters and candidates that don’t conform to the two-party system.
“We believe that all voters and all candidates should be treated equally and this current system doesn’t do that because we have partisan primaries,” said Chuck Coughlin, CEO and president of Highground Public Affairs, a lobbyist group backing the measure. “The problem with today’s system is 80% of all legislative or congressional candidates get elected in primaries where less than 30% of the electorate participates.”
The other six states that ruled out ranked choice voting propositions are Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, South Dakota and Nevada. Additionally, Missouri voted in a proposition that would prohibit ranked choice voting.
Arizona also had a proposition on the ballot that would have required partisan primaries in Arizona and prohibit primaries where candidates compete regardless of party affiliation. However, this proposition also failed with 57.87% of Arizonans voting against it at 94% of precincts reporting.
“The direct primary election for partisan offices shall be conducted in a manner so that each political party that has qualified for representation on the ballot shall be permitted to nominate for each office a number of candidates equal to the number of positions to be filled for that office in the ensuing general election, and all otherwise eligible candidates who are so nominated shall be placed on the ballot in the next ensuing general election,” reads the proposed amendment.
This would have kept the current system where there are typically two primary elections for each office – Republican candidates and Democratic candidates – and the winning candidate in each party moves on to the general election to compete against each other.
Washington D.C. is the only state that has adopted ranked choice voting and semi-open primaries this election cycle.
