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Arizona voters concerned about partisanship, but want more access to elections in new survey

Posted by Cathy L. Stewart on October 01, 2024 at 11:39 AM

Originally published September 16, 2024 by the Daily Independent

An election worker removes tabulated ballots from the machine inside the Maricopa County Recorders Office, Nov. 10, 2022, in Phoenix. A survey of voters out Monday found they want more participation in primaries and believe partisanship is a major issue.(AP Photo/Matt York, File)

 

A new survey of Arizona voters’ attitudes shows the electorate is concerned about partisanship in elections, but many are committed to having more access to voting.

The results are part of an ongoing series of surveys from the Center for the Future of Arizona, which released the new data on Monday.

“Elections are critical to ensuring that Arizonans’ voices are heard and represented in the governance of our state,” said Dr. Sybil Francis, Chair, President & CEO of CFA. “Arizona’s likely voters are clearly expressing deep concern about the state of our democracy, but they remain energized and determined to participate in creating positive change. The data also show that voters support actions to strengthen election processes, like equal access to voting regardless of party affiliation and ensuring leaders represent a broader base of the electorate.”

The survey, conducted in collaboration with Highground Inc., found 96% support — and 87% strong support — for equal access to voting whether they were Democrats, Republicans, independents or registered with other parties.

Voters also said, with 77% total support and 51% strong support, that partisan primaries fuel a lot of partisanship and rewards the most extreme examples from all parties.

That support would back Proposition 140, which seeks to open primaries and have all candidates running early with at least the top vote getters advancing to the general regardless of party affiliation. That could mean, for example, two Democrats or two Republicans running in the general election for the same seat.

CFA plans to release more surveys this week and going into next week about voters’ attitudes on water and the environment, education, and taxes and spending. The surveys were conducted Aug. 5-13 of likely voters, and each survey questioned 500 voters in live interviews to landline and cell phones. Based on previous elections, the poll was set at plus 4% for Republicans, and the margin of error was 4.3%.

An open primary could help better candidates win in Arizona. Oh, the horror

Posted by Cathy L. Stewart on August 14, 2024 at 9:00 AM

Arizona's political players are trying every which way to block voters from deciding the Make Elections Fair initiative. Why are they so afraid of giving every voter an equal voice?

By Laurie Roberts, Arizona Republic - Originally published Aug. 12, 2024 on azcentral.com

The prospect of making elections fair in Arizona has the state’s powerbrokers breaking out in a cold sweat.

Allowing voters to scrap partisan primaries and replace them with a single open primary in which every voter has an equal voice and every candidate an equal shot?

Surely, this cannot be allowed.

Thus, comes their four-pronged bipartisan attack on the Make Elections Fair initiative.

 

Foes really don't want to Make Elections Fair

They’ve sued to knock it off the Nov. 5 ballot claiming it’s unconstitutional and they’ve sued claiming problems with the petitions to put it on the ballot.

In the event they can't keep it off the ballot, they’ve adopted a misleading description of the measure to send to every voter.

And, if all else fails, they’ve put a competing measure on the ballot, hoping to ensure that the state’s most partisan voters can continue to dictate our choices in the general election.

“The goal is to drain us of money … and they’re succeeding at that,” Chuck Coughlin, who is running the Make Elections Fair campaign, told me. “These extreme forces of the parties want to keep their stranglehold on the primaries, which only the most extreme candidates can win.”

The good news is, opponents are thus far 0 for 2 in the three court challenges.

 

Court shoots down 2 ballot challenges

Former Arizona Attorney General and Mayor of Phoenix Terry Goddard sports a Make Elections Fair pin after addressing members of the press outside the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix on July 3, 2024. Photo Credit: Vanessa Abbitt/The Republic

 

The Arizona Free Enterprise Club sued, contending the proposal unconstitutionally makes several changes to state elections laws.

But on Friday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Frank Moskowitz ruled the Make Elections Fair Act does not violate the state constitution’s single subject rule, saying the changes are “sufficiently related to be considered a single purpose.”

Make Elections Fair would create one open primary for all voters.

Yet, the Legislative Council, a bipartisan panel that must approve an impartial summary of the proposal for the state's official publicity pamphlet, voted 14-0 to bury the explanation of what the bill actually does.

Don't fall for a bipartisan push: To protect parties' power

Instead, its summary leads off with a warning of what our leaders fear: Ranked choice voting.

But Make Elections Fair doesn’t mandate ranked choice voting. It merely allows it, should the Legislature and governor opt to use it.

The Make Elections Fair campaign challenged the legislators’ “impartial” summary and on Monday, Superior Court Judge Melissa Iyer Julian ordered a rewrite, saying the summary “reflects the use of an improper rhetorical strategy.”

“The analysis misleadingly suggests that, if the Initiative is enacted, the candidate who receives the most votes would no longer be declared the victor in ‘all’ Arizona elections,” she wrote. “As (Make Elections Fair) points out, this is inaccurate.”

 

If courts fail, they'll try to fool us about it

Meanwhile, a judge on Monday held a hearing on a lawsuit filed by three voters represented by a pair of Democratic attorneys. It’s not clear who’s footing the bill, but the goal is clear.

They’re hoping to invalidate a massive number of the nearly 600,000 voter signatures filed to get Make Elections Fair on the ballot. They’re claiming a variety of petition flaws that have nothing to do with the will of voters and everything to do with the will of the parties to maintain control.

If the courts deny voters the chance to decide Make Elections Fair, there’s always the chance to fool us into rejecting it.

The GOP-run Legislature voted last year to put a competing constitutional amendment on the Nov. 5 ballot, one aimed at protecting partisan primaries.

“They’re trying to change the primary system in Arizona because they don’t want conservatives winning primaries anymore in red districts,” the bill’s author, Republican Rep. Austin Smith, said at the time.

Or put another way, because taxpayer-funded primaries shouldn’t allow the state’s most partisan voters to dictate our choices when fully a third of voters have deserted the two major parties.

An open primary would favor candidates who appeal to a broader range of voters.

Oh, the horror.

Reach Roberts at [email protected]. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @LaurieRobertsaz and on Threads at @LaurieRobertsaz.