Proponents debate over dueling election-related ballot measures

PHOENIX – Two ballot propositions that will affect how Arizona runs its elections was the topic of debate on Thursday night.

Proposition 140 and Proposition 133 are two measures that aim to address partisan primaries. Prop 140, also known as the Make Elections Fair Arizona Act, aims to establish open primaries in Arizona.

Prop 133 is the exact opposite, it would keep elections as they are now.

Paul Johnson, Prop 140 co-chair and ex-Phoenix mayor, and Brennan A.R. Bowen, associate with the firm Holtzman Vogel, faced off in the debate.

Throughout the debate, Johnson focused on the way Prop 140 would empower independent candidates and voters. It would allow independents to vote in state primaries by eliminating separate ones for Republicans and Democrats and instead create a single open primary with every party’s candidate on a single ballot for every voter.

In Arizona, there is not a primary for independents, voters not affiliated with the two major parties must choose which of the two they want to vote in. Additionally, because independent candidates can’t be voted on in the primary, they require a larger amount of signatures to end up on the November ballot than Republicans and Democrats. Prop 140 aims to resolve this by requiring all signature requirements to remain equal for all parties.

“I am a huge supporter of our system and I am actually a supporter of both parties but by including independents, by including unaffiliated voters we won’t make them [Republicans and Democrats] weaker, we’ll make them stronger because they will have to compete for them [independents],” Johnson said.

On the other side, Bowen attacked the measures ranked-choice option and insisted that the proposition would create a complicated system.

His criticism comes from an element of Prop 140 that would allow ranked-choice voting in general elections if three or more candidates advance from the primaries.

This means that voters would rank their top choices in November. If their first choice doesn’t have enough votes, that candidate would eliminated and the votes would go to the voter’s second choice until a majority winner is decided.

While Bowen admitted that the current election system isn’t ideal, he was firm in believing that Prop 140 was not the answer.

“It is a cure worse than the disease, the problems facing us are real and we do need comprehensive answers to them but Prop 140 is not that answer,” Bowen said.

Johnson was adamant that 140 was not focused on ranked choice voting and did not require it in the general election. If passed, the state legislature would be the ones to decide how many candidates are on the general election ballot.

The role the state would play in deciding how many candidates appear on the November ballot was a concern for Bowen, who feared it would put new power in the hands of politicians.

Bowen also pushed back that the measure would empower voters. Instead, he feared that there could be situations where the candidates who came out of the single primary system were either of one party or that a certain party may be excluded. For example, a Republican could not be on the general election ballot if the top three candidates coming out of the primary were two Democrats and an independent.

Johnson said the possibility of a one-party ballot wouldn’t happen but that the single primary system would force Republicans and Democratic candidates to reach out to voters not affiliated with their party, hopefully creating less division.

“If we’re going to fix the problems that we have in our society, we have to learn to listen to people who don’t think like we think and an open primary definitely assures that happening,” Johnson said.

Instead of Prop 140, Bowen said there are other solutions out there to allow more voters and candidates a chance at taking part in elections.

“If for instance, you wanted to give independents a larger vote, there are much simpler ways to do that. You can make it easier for independent candidates to qualify for the ballot,” Bowen said.

But Johnson was pessimistic that Democrats or Republicans would create a system to make it easier for independents to vote in primaries.

Voters will have both Prop 133 and Prop 140 to choose from in November. If both pass, whichever one has the most votes between the two will win out.