Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer and State Senator Ken Bennett filed amicus briefs in defense of a Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) ballot initiative with the Arizona Supreme Court last week.
Bennett served as the secretary of state from 2009 to 2015. He filed his brief jointly with Helen Purcell, the former Maricopa County recorder who served nearly 30 years.
Richer said in his filing for Smith v. Fontes that the votes should be counted for RCV, or Prop 140, the “Make Elections Fair Act” — regardless of the existence of a disqualifying number of duplicate signatures gathered — because the “election has already begun” and, he says, state law prohibits the prevention of counting votes cast.
“Hiding the results or attempting to prevent the vote from being tabulated is an inequitable result,” said Richer. “And it is at odds with Arizona public policy that demands government transparency. Not counting the vote does not mean it did not happen.”
Richer said all arguments concerning the initiative’s qualifications to be on the ballot were rendered moot after the deadline passed to certify and print the ballots.
“To be resolved with a high degree of certainty may not be currently possible given the election time constraints,” said Richer. “The issue has now, at least partially, gone to the people. The Recorder believes there is benefit to allowing the vote to occur, and assuming it is otherwise constitutional, to count.”
Richer stated that his office had already printed over 21,500 different ballot styles and mailed many of them out to in-state residents as well as military and overseas voters, some of which have been returned: over 1,100 out of about 8,500.
“Recorder submits that once the ballots are printed, the time for signature challenges must end,” said Richer.
Richer also said that state law prohibits the destruction of any public record of a vote, and that Maricopa County’s tabulation machines would tabulate the votes returned.
The recorder noted that state law does allow for courts to enjoin the certification and printing of ballots, but not the power to enjoin the counting of votes.
“[I]f the voting tally is a public record, the Recorder does not see how Maricopa County can either destroy it or fail to release it,” said Richer.
Similarly, Bennett and Purcell argued that their combined expertise on elections made it clear that timeliness in elections takes precedence over validity.
Bennett and Purcell cited court precedent in their argument of mootness regarding the challenge to Prop 140’s validity. Secretary of State Adrian Fontes instructed county election officials to include Prop 140 on their ballots printed in late August.
“Courts have consistently upheld the principle that pre-election challenges must be resolved before the ballot printing deadline,” said the pair. “[And] as a practical matter, invalidating Prop 140 after voting has already begun would result in electoral chaos and damage voter confidence in the efficacy of their votes.”
That ballot printing deadline occurred a day after the Arizona Supreme Court remanded the case to the Maricopa County Superior Court for review, citing the exclusion of evidence pertaining to 40,000 duplicate signatures. The exclusion of those contested signatures reduce petition signatures to what is below the total required to qualify for the ballot.
Though the Maricopa County Superior Court did find that nearly all of the 40,000 signatures were duplicates, the court ruled that the state constitution didn’t allow for those votes cast on Prop 140 to be ignored. That ruling led to the appeal which the Arizona Supreme Court now considers, and with which Richer and Bennett disagree.
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For months we have been hearing that a small group of disgruntled political consultants and power-hungry politicians would be releasing their plan to scrap our century-old primary and general election system in favor of a confusing jungle primary/ranked choice voting scheme that will disenfranchise voters and empower special interests.
Well last week a group called “Save Democracy Arizona” rolled out their proposed election reform ballot initiative, and it is about as dysfunctional a plan as what we expected.
Reading through their proposed constitutional amendment, a sprawling 4 pages of poorly written language drafted in secret, it is abundantly clear that this won’t make elections any more transparent or fair except for the special interests who support it. And it does far more to disenfranchise voters and destroy democracy than actually save it…
Amid a looming threat to transform Arizona’s elections by outside special interest groups, legislative Republicans are taking proactive steps to ensure that danger is neutralized before it gains momentum.
This week, the Arizona Senate passed HCR 2033, which sends a question to voters on an amendment to the state constitution to “determine that a Legislature-enacted direct primary law supersedes any contrary or inconsistent provision of any charter, law, ordinance, rule, resolution or policy of any city and modifies nominee requirements for a direct primary election.”
The issue at stake with this resolution is ranked choice voting (RCV), which is most prominently featured in Alaska. The system allows voters to rank their preferences in each election until one candidate receives more than 50% of the vote. If RCV were to be successfully pushed by special interest groups in the 2024 election, Arizona’s primary and general elections would be effectively eliminated in favor of this new progressive system.
According to the Pew Research Center, “62 jurisdictions nationwide have adopted the voting method” – and more are on the way in the near future, including the attempt to airdrop it into Arizona.
The Arizona Senate Republican Caucus cheered the successful passage of this bill, writing, “JUST IN: Senate Republicans voted to send HCR 2033 to the ballot to give voters a voice in protecting Arizona’s primary election system and prohibit ranked choice voting!”
JUST IN: Senate Republicans voted to send HCR 2033 to the ballot to give voters a voice in protecting Arizona’s primary election system and prohibit ranked choice voting! pic.twitter.com/gyLP9vvbn1
Bill sponsor, Representative Austin Smith, applauded the Senate’s vote on his resolution, saying, “Thank you to the @AZSenateGOP for voting out HCR2033. A bigger thank you to all the grassroots activists who worked so hard to make this happen. Very grateful for you all. This constitutional referral to protect our party primaries and girding us against radical experimental election systems that disenfranchise voters such as ‘ranked choice voting.’ HCR 2033 has passed the house and senate and will appear on the 2024 ballot!”
Thank you to the @AZSenateGOP for voting out HCR2033. A bigger thank you to all the grassroots activists who worked so hard to make this happen. Very grateful for you all.
This constitutional referral to protect our party primaries and girding us against radical experimental… pic.twitter.com/fTOuQ2THt6
— AZ State Rep. Austin Smith (@azaustinsmith) March 28, 2023
The vote in the Senate was split down party lines – 16-13, with one Democrat (Senator Miranda) not voting. Earlier in the session, the Arizona House passed the resolution – also along party lines – 31-28, with one Democrat (Representative Shah) not voting.
After the Senate approved HCR 2033, the legislature transmitted the resolution to the Arizona Secretary of State.
Smith’s efforts had attracted local and national attention – on both sides – since he introduced the resolution. Heritage Action previously noted the progress of the resolution through the state legislature; and its Vice President of Field Operations, Janae Stracke, highlighted its clearance from the state house in a March 2 press release, saying, “The ranked-choice voting scheme upends the democratic process and fundamentally changes the way elections operate, leaving voters confused, disenfranchised, and left with unpopular candidates who do not properly represent them….We encourage the Arizona Legislature to continue moving these bills through the process to maintain election integrity, and we look forward to working alongside grassroots Arizonans to advance more legislation that makes it easier to vote and harder to cheat.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
As the threat of a Ranked Choice Voting ballot measure grows, Arizona lawmakers are increasing their warnings about the future of elections under this proposed new system.
This week, the Arizona Freedom Caucus released a statement to note its members’ extreme disapproval over the prospects of Ranked Choice Voting governing future elections: “The Arizona Freedom Caucus unequivocally opposes Ranked Choice Voting. The problems with RCV are numerous and well-documented, the least of which is the erosion of the one-citizen, one-vote principle which has long guided American elections. In jurisdictions where it has been tried, RCV has caused the exact outcomes which election integrity legislators have sought to eliminate, such as disenfranchisement, voter confusion, delayed results, and the unnecessary complication of our elections process.”
The Caucus announced its formal support for the passage of HB 2552 and SB 1265.
HB 2552, sponsored by Representative Austin Smith, passed the House on March 1 with a 31-28-1 vote. On February 28, SB 1265, sponsored by Senator Anthony Kern, passed the Senate with a 16-13-1 vote.
Ranked Choice Voting is most prominently featured in Alaska, where voters rank their preferences in each election until one candidate receives more than 50% of the vote. If RCV were to be successfully pushed by special interest groups in the 2024 election, Arizona’s primary and general elections would be effectively eliminated in favor of this new progressive system.
According to the Pew Research Center, “62 jurisdictions nationwide have adopted the voting method” – and more are on the way in the near future, including the attempt to airdrop it into Arizona.
Representative Smith issued the following statement in the Arizona Freedom Caucus’s press release: “Ranked Choice Voting is an unmitigated disaster as seen recently in Alaska and local municipalities races. Arizona—Maricopa County specifically—already has a bad record of voter tabulation and counting process. Between voter confusion, high rates of ballot exhaustion and the difficulty of tabulating the results, RCV increases voter disenfranchisement, distrust in the process and deters candidates from taking stances on issues important to every Arizonan. The bottom line is RCV is a scam that destroys integrity in elections.”
Senator Kern also provided a quote for the release, saying, “RCV may not always result in the candidate with the most first-choice votes winning the election. I am aware that there are groups in Arizona advocating for RCV, but this will only lead to chaos, and we must ensure that our constituents have easy and fair access to the ballot box.”
Another Freedom Caucus member, Senator Justine Wadsack, also weighed in on the Ranked Choice Voting debate: “RCV introduces voter disenfranchisement perpetrated by its ‘exhausted ballots’ because the effect is the silencing of significant portions of the electorate. Exhausted ballots are those that do not rank any continuing candidate, contain an overvote at the highest continuing ranking, or contain two or more sequential skipped rankings before its highest continuing ranking.”
The Arizona Freedom Caucus, along with other Republican members of the State Senate and House, hosted a press conference on Wednesday, at 11:00am, in the Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing Room to announce their formal opposition to Ranked Choice Voting. These efforts take place under the unfriendly shadow of the Ninth Floor of the Arizona Executive Tower, where the legislation has little chance of being signed into law by Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) has the attention of national and local Republicans – especially as a group may be forming to push this voting reform measure onto the 2024 Arizona ballot to affect future elections.
After the Republican National Committee (RNC) voted last week to oppose RCV, Arizona Representative Austin Smith, who is a freshman member of the legislature and the Arizona Freedom Caucus, introduced HB2552 to prohibit RCV in the Grand Canyon State.
Ranked Choice Voting is most prominently featured in Alaska, where voters rank their preferences in each election until one candidate receives more than 50% of the vote. If RCV were to be successfully pushed by special interest groups in the 2024 election, Arizona’s primary and general elections would be effectively eliminated in favor of this new progressive system.
According to the Pew Research Center, “62 jurisdictions nationwide have adopted the voting method” – and more are on the way in the near future, including the attempt to airdrop it into Arizona.
Representative Smith posted on his Twitter account this week that his legislation had “support from a majority of the Republican caucus in both the Arizona House and Senate.”
Today I introduced HB2552 that prohibits Rank Choice Voting in the state of AZ. RCV is a disaster.
This has support from a majority of the Republican caucus in both the @AZHouseGOP & @AZSenateGOP. We stand united in not bringing Rank Choice Voting to Arizona. Let’s get it done! pic.twitter.com/Ttp3ivqKU7
Smith does not appear to be wrong about that. The bill has garnered 38 cosponsors from both legislative chambers.
The bill also appears to be destined for a quick vote as it has already received a first and second read in the Arizona House in its first week of existence.
RCV has long been a target of Representative Smith. Soon after Smith won his general election contest in November 2022, he tweeted that “We can never allow rank choice voting to happen in Arizona.”
In an exclusive interview with AZ Free News, Representative Smith explained why he introduced this legislation:
“I introduced HB 2552 with a majority of Republican lawmakers of all stripes because we’ve seen in the test run with RCV that it doesn’t work. It actually deepens problems with elections. It hurts voters and makes the process of tallying even harder. We shouldn’t make the process of vote tallying even harder for election workers and sow distrust in the process even more.”
Representative Smith’s bill has been met with tremendous applause from many people around Arizona and nationally, including two former elections officials in the state, David Romney (Election Services Division of the Arizona Secretary of State’s office) and Jen Wright (Assistant Attorney General and head of the Election Integrity Unit).
Should this legislation pass the Arizona Senate and House, it remains to be seen whether it would be signed into law by Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs, who has promised to use her veto stamp on bills she believes are partisan in nature.
This potential uncertainty if and when the legislation reaches the Ninth Floor won’t stop Representative Smith, however, from seeing his bill across the legislative finish line. Smith told AZ Free News, “It’s important for the legislature to show Arizona citizens that Republicans are going on the offensive to prevent bad policies from hurting Arizona’s elections. The best defense is a good offense, and my bill does just that.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
