by Daniel Stefanski | Mar 30, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
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!”
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!”
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.
by Daniel Stefanski | Feb 2, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
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.”
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.
by Corinne Murdock | Jan 22, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
An activist group wants to overhaul elections processes with ranked-choice voting (RCV), open primaries, and a uniform signature-gathering limit.
Voter Choice Arizona (VCA) is behind the effort. During a monthly public meeting on Wednesday, VCA treasurer and founding member Richard Cook claimed RCV is nonpartisan, tried and true, and good for all parties.
“We’re not here to change an election system, we’re not here to generate support,” said Cook. “We’re here because we believe in a more effective government. We believe we can elect better leaders to lead the future of Arizona.”
In its presentation, VCA claimed that the current election system fails to eliminate the “spoiler effect” from independents and third parties, limits honest choice in the voting booth, thwarts majority rule by helping divisive candidates succeed in crowded fields, distracts from healthy-issue based campaigns, and chooses candidates in low participation primary elections. It cited low primary election participants as a reason for RCV.
RCV lets voters rank multiple candidates in order of preference, with the initial leading candidate receiving the most “first-preference votes.” However, even second, third, and so on rankings carry weight that can flip a final outcome. A candidate who originally led with the highest percentage of votes but no majority could fall behind another candidate when factoring lesser rankings.
In an example scenario: out of three candidates, none received a majority under RCV though one had the highest percentage of votes cast for them. The third-place candidate drops off, and the rankings assigned to the third-place candidate are shifted onto the first- and second-place candidates. If the second-place candidate far outranked the first-place candidate, theoretically, the second-place candidate could win.
Those elections that allow for multiple winning candidates, such as for the Arizona Corporation Commission, would need to meet a lower threshold for the majority.
VCA is partnering with several organizations: Rank the Vote, the Institute for Political Innovation, Represent Us, Unite Arizona, and Save Democracy Arizona. VCA said it planned to form a C4 organization with these organizations to fundraise and gather signatures.
In addition to its partners, VCA is endorsed by League of Women Voters Arizona, as well as a cohort of Democrat, Libertarian, independent, and moderate Republican elected officials. Members of the VCA advisory board include:
- Alison Porter: Save Our Schools founder
- Former Democratic State Rep. Sarah Liguori
- Sam Coppersmith: former Democratic Congressman; founder of a top law firm for Democrats, Coppersmith Brockelman, from which newly appointed Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Roopali Desai hailed as a partner
- Lauren Kuby: former Tempe City Councilwoman and Democratic candidate for the Arizona Corporation Commission
- Heather Carter: executive vice president of Greater Phoenix Leadership and former Republican state representative
- Art Babbott: former member of the Flagstaff City Council
VCA will attempt to file its constitutional ballot initiative for 2024 later this year. They likely need around 600,000 signatures to make the ballot, since the minimum is around 356,000. If approved, RCV would go into effect in the 2026 election.
23 other states allow RCV at varying levels: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.
Two states banned RCV: Tennessee and Florida.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Aug 4, 2022 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
A new nonprofit, Save Democracy, wants to make primary elections nonpartisan through a forthcoming ballot initiative. They haven’t launched a formal campaign yet, but mentioned an aim to make the 2024 ballot.
The organization advocates for election reforms like ranked-choice voting (RCV), which proposes that individuals rank candidates into a preference list when voting. Two red states, Utah and Alaska, and nine blue states — California, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, and New York — all have some form of RCV system in play. Save Democracy also advocates for unaffiliated candidates to be listed in primary elections.
“Until our system encourages broader voter turnout and equal treatment of candidates, it will continue to support tiny minorities of voters deciding the outcome of elections,” states the nonprofit on its website.
Arizona allows independent voters to vote in primaries via an open primary provision, so long as they request the type of ballot they want to receive. However, independent voters must change their voter registration for presidential preference elections. And, unlike Democratic and Republican primaries, the Libertarian Party has a closed primary.
However, Save Democracy declares that Arizona elections aren’t open because they’re favored to serve partisanship over independent candidacy.
The nonprofit’s leadership consists of Sarah Smallhouse, Si Schorr, Ted Hinderaker, and Don Budinger.
Since 2005, Smallhouse has donated over $15,300 to Democrats and over $7,600 to Republicans at the federal level (though none of her Republican donations were in the last decade).
Since 2004, Schorr has donated nearly $18,400 to Democrats and none to Republicans at the federal level.
Since 2006, Hinderaker has donated nearly $3,500 to Democrats and over $3,500 to Republicans at the federal level.
Since 2000, Budinger has donated over $74,100 to Democrats and $58,400 to Republicans at the federal level.
Smallhouse, Budinger, and Schorr have all served in leadership within the Southern Arizona Leadership Council (SALC); Smallhouse and Hinderacker both serve leadership roles on University of Arizona (UArizona) boards.
SALC is an association of C-suite business and community leaders. Past board chairs hailed from Arizona State University (ASU) and giant corporations like Tucson Electric Power, Raytheon Missile Systems, IBM, Cox Communications, and Southwest Gas. In addition to Save Democracy, their partners include the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR), Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association (AHHA), Chicanos Por La Causa, and the ASU Morrison Institute for Public Policy.
Most notably in recent years, SALC coordinated a campaign to defeat Prop 205, a ballot measure that would have established a sanctuary city in Tucson.
Smallhouse, a longtime Democratic donor, pointed out in a June article that independent and “other” voters outnumbered partisan alternatives. Over 1.4 million voters (33 percent) are registered as “other,” closing in on well over 1.4 million registered Republicans (34 percent) and outnumbering the 1.3 million registered Democrats (31 percent). The number of “other” voters increased by over 128,200 since the 2020 election, outpacing the near-44,900 growth of Republican registrations by nearly three times over.
Smallhouse argued that elections weren’t competitive enough to reflect this voter demographic.
“Our current partisan primary system, paid for by all taxpayers, excludes certain candidates and creates massive barriers to participation for voters not affiliated with a political party,” wrote Smallhouse.
Two high-profile members of Save Democracy, when it comes to issues of election integrity and voter rights, are State Senator Paul Boyer (R-Glendale) and Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer.
Also members are Pima County Supervisor Rex Scott, Tucson Metro Chamber of Commerce Chairman Edmund Marquez, former Republican congressman Jim Kolbe, former Democratic congressman Ron Barber, former Phoenix mayor and Redirect Health CEO Paul Johnson, former Mesa mayor Scott Smith, Arizona State University (ASU) assistant vice president of media relations Jay Thorne, SALC director Nicole Barraza, Voter Choice Arizona executive member Blake Sacha, Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture Executive Director Paul Brierley, S+C Communications co-founder Chip Scutari, Duncan Family Farms board chairman Arnott Duncan, Water Policy and State Affairs Senior Director Kevin Moran, and Greater Phoenix Leadership Executive Vice President Heather Carter.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
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