How will Arizona politics change if voters pass the Make Elections Fair Act in November?

PHOENIX — Voters will soon decide whether they want to make Arizona primary elections nonpartisan.

That’s due to a judge’s Thursday ruling that a ballot initiative to change the way voters elect candidates has enough signatures to appear on the general election ballot in November.

Prop 140, otherwise known as the Make Elections Fair Act, would create open primaries in which all candidates can compete, regardless of their political affiliations.

Essentially, it would level the playing field between the different parties and independents, according to Chuck Coughlin, the CEO and president of Phoenix-based consulting firm HighGround, Inc.

“Everyone should be treated equally. That’s the whole premise,” Coughlin told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Outspoken with Bruce and Gaydos on Thursday.

How will this affect voters in Arizona?

The current system requires independent candidates to submit more petition signatures than Republicans and Democrats need to run in the general election.

Coughlin said that’s unfair.

“The fastest growing part of the electorate is our independent voters,” he said. “So why don’t we just treat everybody the same?”

Coughlin also said primary elections spur candidates to appeal to extremists to win. Data backs him up. According to the Scholars Strategy Network, primary voters gravitate toward extreme candidates.

However, the general electorate might prefer more moderate candidates who can’t make it through a primary in the current system.

This pattern of extremists winning primaries proved itself true in the Republican race for Congressional District 8, which covers much of the West Valley.

MAGA loyalist Abe Hamadeh won with 29.8% of the vote, beating various rivals, including moderate Ben Toma. The victory came after an endorsement from former President Donald Trump.

“He’s now a congressman for life because that’s a very safe Republican district,” Coughlin said of Hamadeh.

However, that future would look different if Prop 140 passes, he added.

What would making primary elections nonpartisan do?

“With what we’re proposing, you can’t win a seat like that with 29% of the election,” Coughlin said. “The basis of the American economy is competition. You have to be able to compete.”

Essentially, Prop 140 would pave the way for open primaries that create more competition and treat every voter the same, he added.

It would be up to the Legislature to decide how many candidates advance from the open primary to the general election.

“It forces candidates to represent more of the electorate,” Coughlin said. “It’s like, ‘I’m just not going to be talking to the very fringe part of the electorate. … I have to then narrate my campaign to a majority of voters that are going to turn up in that election.'”