PHOENIX — Arizona voters will see a whopping 13 ballot initiatives in November, but their votes for one may not count.
That’s because a court challenge to Proposition 140 is still pending – and it’s not clear when a final decision could come.
The state Supreme Court placed Prop.140, which would do away with the state’s partisan primaries on the ballot last week. The day before the deadline to print ballots in two counties, Chief Justice Ann A. Scott Timmer also instructed a lower court to look at a challenge to the measure’s signatures.
“If the court rejects Plaintiffs’ challenge, the voters will decide whether the Initiative should be enacted into law,” she wrote. “If the court disqualifies the Initiative, the court should issue an injunction precluding any votes for the measure from being counted.”
If the signatures are ultimately invalid, votes for the measure would be tabulated but not assigned, the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office told ABC15 on Friday.
It’s the first time this has happened with a ballot initiative in Arizona history.
"The Supreme Court broke 80 years of precedent in the decision that they just made by sending this back to asking it to be reviewed again,” said former Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson with Make Elections Fair AZ.
Johnson said the group has enough signatures, pointing to the Maricopa County Superior Court ruling and the secretary of state’s signature validation.
“We have gone back to the Supreme Court to ask them to take a second look at what they've done, because they are breaking with an 80-year precedent, and they're effectively creating law,” Johnson said.
In the meantime, the signature challenge will be heard Tuesday in Maricopa County Superior Court.
Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’ office told ABC15 on Friday that the matter is out of their hands, saying it’s up to the courts.
Timmer in her order noted that state law does not require courts to resolve election challenges before the ballot printing deadline. According to court documents, Fontes said Aug. 22 was the ballot printing deadline for Maricopa and Coconino counties.
“Courts cannot be forced to rule rashly to meet a ballot printing deadline or provide the parties with certainty,” she wrote.
ABC15 reached out on Friday to the attorney representing the group that challenged the signatures but did not immediately hear back.
What Prop. 140 would do
Prop. 140 would create a nonpartisan primary system for partisan races, just like the nonpartisan races that cities and towns have. All voters – Republicans, Democrats, and independents – would be eligible to vote. Under Arizona’s current partisan system, independent voters must choose one party’s ballot to vote in the primary.
“I've run under both systems,” Johnson said. “There's no doubt in my mind, the open primary system that allows independents to participate changes the way that candidates see things, because it forces them to talk to people that they may not necessarily agree with.”
The top vote-getters would then move on to the general election.
Prop. 140 would also level the playing field for candidates who don’t belong to a party. Right now, an independent candidate must collect five to seven times as many signatures as a Republican or Democrat to get on the ballot for a statewide partisan race.
Voters will also decide on a competing ballot measure – this one referred to voters by state lawmakers – that would mandate partisan primaries for partisan offices: Proposition 133.
“If they both pass, the one with the most votes wins,” Johnson said.
