After a lengthy court battle, a ballot measure involving a major change to Arizona’s elections system will be considered by voters in the upcoming November General Election.
Late last week, the Arizona Supreme Court finally dismissed the challenge to Proposition 140, the Make Elections Fair Arizona Act. The court simply released its decision order, promising an explanation later. All the justices on the court supported the ruling.
The Arizona Free Enterprise Club, which spearheaded the challenge to the legal validity of the proposition, was disappointed in the result from the court. Scot Mussi, the President of the conservative organization, said, “We are disappointed in the ruling of the court on this matter. Our organization proved that the special interest groups attempting to hijack Arizona’s elections systems lacked the minimum number to qualify for the ballot to even be considered by voters in November. The special master in this case also ruled that 99% of the signatures in question should be disqualified. The committee behind the measure was aware of the duplicates, yet they obstructed and delayed the review of the duplicate signatures for over a month.”
Sarah Smallhouse, Chairperson of the Make Elections Fair Committee, said, “The Make Elections Fair Committee is thrilled with our latest victory for Prop. 140 before the Supreme Court. 32 days from now we will celebrate again when all Arizonans are liberated from the grip of partisan primary elections. It’s time to move forward. It’s time for open primaries in Arizona.”
“Our opponents engaged in blatant attempts to manipulate the system, undermining the democratic process with misleading tactics. This deliberate misconduct was rightfully rejected by the courts, ensuring that Arizona voters were not disenfranchised. The court’s decision upheld the integrity of our elections and protected the right of every voter to have a fair and transparent choice,” said Chuck Coughlin the campaign treasurer.
According to the Make Elections Fair PAC, Prop 140 would do the following if it is approved by Arizona voters: “Eliminates taxpayer funding for partisan elections; All candidates can run and will appear on the same ballot; Same signature requirements for all candidates; No funding for Partisan Presidential Primary unless unaffiliated voters are included; Every voter can participate in every election.”
The Arizona Free Enterprise Club has a different perspective on the ballot measure. In a press release, the Club stated that Prop 140 would do the following if enacted:
“Allows one politician, the Arizona Secretary of State, to decide how many candidates qualify for the general election ballot for every single contest, including his or her own race
Would result in some races where candidates from only one political party appear on the general election ballot
Would force voters to navigate two completely different voting systems on the same ballot, with some races requiring voters to rank candidates and others that do not
Will increase tabulation errors, create longer lines at the polls, and significantly delay election results.”
A couple of Arizona political parties weighed in on the official inclusion of Proposition 140 for voter consideration. The Republican Party of Arizona posted, “ACTION ALERT The awful California style Ranked Choice Voting measure DISGUISED as an ‘open primary’ will appear on AZ ballots. We need EVERYONE to join us on the NO ON PROP 140 campaign to Save Arizona.”
🚨 ACTION ALERT🚨 The awful California style Ranked Choice Voting measure DISGUISED as an ‘open primary’ will appear on AZ ballots. We need EVERYONE to join us on the NO ON PROP 140 campaign to Save Arizona. #StayTuned#StopRCV
The Arizona Libertarian Party agreed, writing, “The AZLP approves this message. Prop 140 could effectively kill third-party and independent candidates. Vote no!”
The AZLP approves this message. Prop 140 could effectively kill third-party and independent candidates. Vote no! https://t.co/efBIo7vNMc
In a hearing on Wednesday with Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Frank Moskowitz, the fate of Prop 140, the open primary, ranked-choice voting initiative, could be decided.
The final report of the court-appointed Special Master, Retired Arizona Superior Court Judge Christopher Skelly, has revealed that of the original 41,387 pairs of signatures challenged, a total of 37,657 or approximately 99%, were in fact duplicates. In a press release on the case April Smith v. Fontes, the Arizona Free Enterprise Club noted that the determination by Judge Skelly now places Prop. 140 thousands of signatures short of the minimum qualification to appear on the Nov. 5th ballot. To be precise, it would be 3,300 signatures short of the standard reaffirmed in the Arizona Supreme Court ruling Mussi v. Hobbs (2022).
Scot Mussi, President of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club said in a statement, “As we knew all along, Prop 140 lacks the signatures required for this measure to even make it to the ballot in the first place, let alone be considered by voters in November. Even though they knew about the illegitimacy of these duplicate signatures, the special interests behind this initiative attempted to run out the clock on this challenge through obstruction and delay. They were caught, and now we hope the court does the right thing and enjoin the measure from tabulation in the fall.”
As previously reported by AZ Free News, the extent of the signature duplication was extreme and brazen with 250 individuals reportedly signing five or more times, and a single individual signing no less than fifteen times. You can see the exhibit here.
In the text of Judge Skelly’s determination, hundreds of the alleged duplicates were overruled and removed from consideration and 3,333 were removed from consideration by agreement of attorneys on both sides. While the signatures were classed into “exact matches” and “near matches,” Skelly writes that he was instructed to “not read anything into those descriptions and I did not.”
Judge Skelly found that “Plaintiffs had proved by clear and convincing evidence that 37,657 signatures were duplicates— that the same person had signed more than once.”
SHARE: The group that supposedly wants to “make elections fair” (including Adrian Fontes) is content to do so by counting duplicate signatures. 🤯https://t.co/RXH6xGdKCe
Writing about the dupicate signature issue in August, the AZFEC criticized the group behind Proposition 140, the “Make Elections Fair PAC,” stating that the group which seeks to import “California-style elections to our state—got very creative in their signature gathering efforts. In fact, you could say that in many ways, they excelled in duplicating their work. And that’s exactly why Prop 140 should be invalidated.”
“This is outrageous,” AZFEC wrote, encouraging readers to examine the evidence themselves.
“This isn’t a debate about dubious matches or concerns of same family members with the same name being confused as a duplicate. All the duplicates submitted to be removed were the same name and same address that aligned with what was on the voter file. Under state law, you are only allowed to sign a petition once, so they should have been removed. Instead, thousands of people were allowed to sign the initiative petition sheets multiple times, and those signatures were counted.”
Judge Frank Moskowitz will hold the next hearing on Prop. 140 on Wednesday.
The Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AFEC) is demanding an investigation into an alleged misuse of taxpayer funds by Secretary of State Adrian Fontes.
AFEC published a press release on Tuesday accusing Fontes of misusing taxpayer funds by filing a “politically motivated” brief in the ongoing Arizona Supreme Court case, Smith v. Fontes. The organization also requested that Fontes recuse himself from all ballot tabulation procedures concerning the other initiatives.
“By filing his brief at the Arizona Supreme Court, Fontes unequivocally signaled his position that 40,000 duplicate signatures should be ignored and counted in favor of passing Proposition 140,” said AFEC in its press release. “In short, to Fontes, the ends justify the means to ensure that Arizona’s elections system can be operated like California’s radical system.”
AFEC and other critics compare the components within Proposition 140 to current election procedures exercised by California.
Proposition 140 seeks to remove the partisan split in primary voting — instead implementing open, or “jungle,” primaries — and determine winners using ranked-choice voting. Ranked-choice voting allows voters to rank their preferred candidates each election until one candidate accrues over 50 percent of the vote.
That claim of political motivation stems from Fontes’ role as a “team member” for the nonprofit organization (Save Democracy) supporting the political action committee (Make Elections Fair Arizona) pushing Proposition 140. Those two entities are also united by the involvement of Sarah Smallhouse as their president and treasurer, respectively: a longtime Democrat donor from Tucson who served as leadership for a University of Arizona board and the Southern Arizona Leadership Council.
Fontes’ brief petitioned the court to count any votes cast for Proposition 140, even if the ongoing review of the ballot-qualifying signatures determined that there weren’t enough signatures gathered. Fontes argued that the proposition should be considered valid since the ballots were already being printed with the contested proposition on them.
“Once the ballots have gone to print, it is in the hands of Arizona’s voters,” said Fontes. “The person contesting an issue (or candidate) can make a case to the voters, but the Courts cannot usurp the voters’ decision once it goes to them.”
AFEC sued to stop Proposition 140 earlier this summer after reportedly discovering that over half of the gathered signatures were in violation of state law — around 40,000 duplicates. Should all those alleged duplicate signatures be removed, the proposition would lack the number of signatures required to qualify for the ballot.
AFEC President Scot Mussi said in a statement that Fontes’ brief amounted to the secretary of state taking a side in a ballot measure rather than maintaining an impartial role in the elections process.
“Far from acting as a fair and impartial elections chief, Fontes has officially taken a side in a controversial measure that would be potentially on the ballot, showing Arizonans that he is using taxpayer dollars to make the case for a California-style amendment that would fundamentally transform the way we vote and select our candidates for public office,” said Mussi. “This is not saving democracy; this is trampling the will of the people and the laws that govern how elections should be executed.”
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
Arizona voters should be able to have complete trust in their elected officials to conduct themselves honorably, ethically, and lawfully in every matter concerning our sacred elections.
Too bad Secretary of State Adrian Fontes never got the memo.
In the midst of firing off baseless attacks against our organization after a court ruled in our favor against his radical Elections Procedures Manual, Fontes found a new way to violate the ethics of his office…and maybe the law.
Last week, in an unexpected, politically motivated, and potentially unlawful use of taxpayer dollars, Fontes filed a brief at the Arizona Supreme Court in an effort to ensure that votes for Prop 140 are counted in the November General Election—regardless of its eventual legality.
Think about that for a moment. By filing this brief, Adrian Fontes—the top election official in our state—unequivocally signaled his position that 40,000 duplicate signatures should be ignored and counted in favor of passing Prop 140. In short, this means that for Fontes, the ends justify the means to ensure that Arizona adopts a California-style election scheme that includes ranked-choice voting and jungle primaries. But that shouldn’t come as much of surprise…because it’s exactly what he’s been working for…
Secretary of State Adrian Fontes argued in a new brief for an ongoing court case that duplicate signatures shouldn’t be cause for Proposition 140 to be removed from the ballot. Challengers to the proposition say they found around 40,000 duplicate signatures.
Prop 140, the Make Elections Fair Act, proposes open primaries (called “jungle” primaries by opponents) which remove the partisan segregation defining Arizona elections, as well as the implementation of ranked-choice voting.
Fontes is one of the listed “team members” for Save Democracy, the nonprofit entity supporting the political action committee pushing the measure, Make Elections Fair Arizona.
Save Democracy’s president, Sarah Smallhouse, also serves as treasurer of the Make Elections Fair Committee. Fontes also conducted a webinar sponsored by Save Democracy in which he advocated for open primaries.
In the brief issued on Friday for the case Smith v. Fontes, Fontes argued that the proposition should be considered valid since the ballots had already gone to print with the contested proposition included. Otherwise, the secretary argued, the court would be denying Arizonans their right to “free and equal” elections.
“Once the ballots have gone to print, it is in the hands of Arizona’s voters,” said Fontes. “The person contesting an issue (or candidate) can make a case to the voters, but the Courts cannot usurp the voters’ decision once it goes to them.”
Fontes proposed that those challengers to the validity of Prop 140’s gathered signatures should seek recourse through future elections.
“After investing their time educating themselves about this ballot measure, it would be wrong for the Arizona electorate later to be told their vote will not be counted,” said Fontes. “Given the far-reaching implications of this Court potentially enjoining the canvass, the Secretary requests this Court to reconsider its previous ruling and affirm the principle that once the ballots have gone to print, any challenge must end.”
The Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AFEC) sued to stop the Make Elections Fair Act after reportedly discovering over half of the proposition’s gathered signatures were gathered in violation of state law.
🚨 Second lawsuit filed!!
If the unconstitutionality of the the radical Make Elections Fair Initiative wasn’t bad enough, it turns out after a thorough review of their petitions, that over half of their signatures have been collected in violation of state law! https://t.co/mUMNXsOub7pic.twitter.com/ztrwbIIFaw
— Arizona Free Enterprise Club (@azfec) July 27, 2024
The Arizona Supreme Court sided with AFEC’s challenge last month, ruling that the lawsuit should continue in order to determine whether the tens of thousands of challenged signatures were valid (around 40,000), even though ballots began to be printed on the same day it handed down its decision.
The state supreme court ordered that an injunction be issued preventing the counting of any votes on the proposition should it be discovered that the proposition lack the required number of signatures.
AFEC reported discovering that, of the 40,000 duplicates, around 250 individuals had signed their name five or more times. One individual reportedly signed 15 times.
AFEC has argued that the mass amount of duplicate signatures indicated that Fontes shouldn’t have approved the proposition for inclusion on the ballot in the first place.
With 40,000 duplicate signatures, it's clear that #Prop140 should’ve never been on the ballot in the first place because the people of Arizona don’t want to follow in California’s footsteps with jungle primaries or ranked choice voting.https://t.co/RXH6xGdcMG
