Arizona judge rejects challenge to open primary measure

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Hill

09/21/24 5:45 PM ET


An Arizona superior court judge rejected a challenge to a measure, Proposition 140, that would amend the state constitution and allow for open primaries in the Grand Canyon State.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Frank Moskowitz ruled on Thursday that the votes can be counted for the proposal, dubbed “Make Arizona Elections Fair Act,” that would permit all registered voters in the state to pick from all candidates in the primary election, no matter which party the candidate represents. After all of the votes in the race end up being counted, the top two vote-getters would proceed to the general election.

The measure has faced legal barriers from the right. The right-leaning Arizona Free Enterprise Club argued that nearly 40,000 of the proposition’s signatures were duplicates.

Moskowitz did not take up the evidence of duplicate signatures, but soon after, the state’s Supreme Court ordered the former Gov. Jan Brewer-appointed judge to settle if duplicates were involved, according to The Arizona Mirror. The Arizona Supreme Court also said in their ruling that if the proposition did not get enough signatures, the votes for it should not be counted. After being asked to reevaluate the order, Arizona’s highest court walked back the statement, The Mirror reported.

Read more: https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4892480-arizona-proposition-140-challenge-rejected/

[LeftInTX]

1. Arizona's proposed "open primaries" are very different than Texas open primaries.

Texas is an open primary state. We don't register by primary. We decide which primary to vote in when we go to the polls. We can only participate in runoffs of the same party. Sounds like AZ's open primaries will be a "free for all". It doesn't sound like it will increase participation. It sounds more like "ranked choice"

I do tend to agree that primaries end up picking the more extreme candidates, (In Texas, Latina women win the Dem primaries and white men win the GOP primaries) but don't know if this is the solution.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. "It sounds more like 'ranked choice'"

As I have been learning all these new types of "primaries", I think in this case, it will be more like what CA recently put in place - a "jungle primary", where the cutoffs are the top vote-getters, regardless of party.

Here in Philly, the "at-Large" City Council seats are decided that way for both the primary and general election (top 5 vote-getters win).

In the case of "ranked choice", which is what AK has, the voter has to literally do some extra work by selecting their "1st choice", then "2nd choice", and on down the line, and the final tally will ultimately reflect those that got the most votes (regardless of how an individual ranked them). I.e., a combo of someone who might have had the most 2nd choice and 3rd choice votes that totals more than someone who had a lot of first choice votes, could conceivably win, especially if someone who picked a 1st choice, left the other choices blank.

[SupportSanity]

2. This might get interesting!