TAKE ACTION & SIGN THE PETITION TODAY!
Out of state special interests are pushing a ballot measure that would upend our election system and disenfranchise voters by importing radical election schemes from California called Jungle Primaries and Ranked Choice Voting (RCV).
What are Jungle Primaries?
A flawed election system that puts every candidate, regardless of party, on the same ballot. This results in having general elections where candidates from only one political party appear on the general election ballot, giving voters no real choice in selecting a candidate. Whether that is only all Republicans or all Democrats, that’s WRONG for Arizona!
Why are Jungle Primaries bad for Arizona?
It is a confusing system which results in bizarre outcomes that do not reflect the will of the majority of voters. California currently has Jungle Primaries and they have one of the most dysfunctional political systems in the country!
What is RCV?
A confusing scheme where voters rank the candidates on a ballot and then votes are tabulated and reallocated until a candidate receives a faux majority.
Why is RCV bad for Arizona?
RCV undermines the fundamental principle of one person, one vote that determines the winner based on who receives the most votes with a confusing, complicated ranking system that disenfranchises voters, reduces transparency and delays election results.
Why California-Style Election Systems are WRONG for Voters:
Removes choices for voters by allowing only candidates from one party to be represented in a general election.
Rewards political sabotage by special interests who want to game the system.
Eliminates the system of one person one vote whereby the candidate that gets the most votes wins.
Creates a defect known as “Ballot Exhaustion” which allows your vote to be thrown out and not counted.
Has resulted in the wrong candidate being declared the winner in cities that have used RCV.
Results in more ballots being rejected due to simple mistakes made while ranking candidates, especially ballots cast by vulnerable voters.
Will make ballots much more complicated and longer for voters, increasing ballot fatigue.
Reduces transparency with complicated algorithms that no one understands and are unverifiable.
Will take longer to vote and delays election results for over a month.
California-style elections are funded by wealthy, out of state special interest groups who want to change how we vote.
Why California-Style Election Systems are WRONG for Voters:
Removes choices for voters by allowing only candidates from one party to be represented in a general election.
Rewards political sabotage by special interests who want to game the system.
Eliminates the system of one person one vote whereby the candidate that gets the most votes wins.
Creates a defect known as “Ballot Exhaustion” which allows your vote to be thrown out and not counted.
Has resulted in the wrong candidate being declared the winner in cities that have used RCV.
Results in more ballots being rejected due to simple mistakes made while ranking candidates, especially ballots cast by vulnerable voters.
Will make ballots much more complicated and longer for voters, increasing ballot fatigue.
Reduces transparency with complicated algorithms that no one understands and are unverifiable.
Will take longer to vote and delays election results for over a month.
California-style elections are funded by wealthy, out of state special interest groups who want to change how we vote.
Independents Benefit from the Party Primary System too:
In Arizona, Independents can vote in partisan primaries, but they can only participate in one party’s ballot just like everyone else. Plus, Independent candidates can bypass primaries altogether ensuring a spot on the general election ballot, without the cost of a primary campaign.
Two thirds of voters still choose to associate with a political party, and every election cycle millions are spent courting the “Independent” vote. The answer is not to blow up the primary system that has worked for centuries. This is a “solution” in search of a problem.
Arizonans tried runoffs before, and quickly rejected them.
From the beginning of elections in the United States, and the beginning of elections in the state of Arizona, we have had a simple system relying on a foundational principle: 1 person, 1 vote.
Recently, disgruntled political insiders with desired electoral outcomes have been sweeping the nation with proposals to upend this simple and understood method of selecting our leaders and replace it with complicated, fault-filled ideas like Jungle Primaries and RCV.
Sold as the solution to all our political woes, in reality it leaves voters confused, delays election results, and leads to thousands of voters being disenfranchised when their ballots are “exhausted” prior to the last “instant run-off.”
The push is being brought here to Arizona too, but this isn’t the first time an effort has been made to “reform” our elections.
In 1988, after a rare Gubernatorial election with a popular independent candidate resulting in the election of a Governor with just under 40% of the vote, who was subsequently impeached, the legislature referred to the voters a measure to amend the constitution to require a majority vote to elect candidates to executive offices in Arizona.
The voters approved it, as Prop 105, by a vote of 56.4%-43.6%. Just two years later, the result was the first Gubernatorial runoff election in Arizona history. It was a disaster. So bad in fact, that legislators quickly referred to the voters an amendment to the constitution to undo what they had just done.
It turns out the voters agreed in 1992, approving the repeal of the runoff system, this time by an overwhelming margin of 67%-33%.
The motivation today is the same as it was in 1988 leaving us with two lessons learned:
01.
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We should not upend our entire election system each time there is a result we aren’t happy with. We shouldn’t make permanent changes based on temporary outcomes.
02.
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Changing the system does not magically improve the pool of candidates.
Free Enterprise Club Legislative Response to Rank Choice Voting
Rep. Austin Smith
HB 2552
Would enshrine in statute the requirement that the candidate that receives the highest number of votes is declared the winner and ensures that cities, towns, and counties are prohibited from adopting a Rank Choice Voting system in Arizona.
Rep. Austin Smith
HCR 2033
A proposed Constitutional amendment that guarantees that any recognized political party in the state of Arizona has the right to nominate a candidate to appear on a general election ballot for any office on the ballot. This proposed measure would render any RCV, Jungle primary system or blend of the two systems (the Alaska Model) unconstitutional.
TAKE ACTION & SIGN THE PETITION TODAY!
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