Brought to you by wealthy, out-of-state special interests, Proposition 140 is a sprawling, multi-page measure adding 15 new amendments to our constitution importing California-style election schemes like ranked choice voting and jungle primaries. These bad ideas confuse voters, make ballots longer, delay tabulation results for several weeks, and will result in votes being tossed out due to simple errors. The truth is, there is something for everyone to dislike in Prop 140, which is why all voters should resoundingly reject it.

Prop 140 Results in One Party Rule in General Elections

Since adoption in California, these schemes have led to candidates from only one political party appearing on the general election ballot, depriving many voters of any choice at all. To make matters worse, ranked choice voting in California has led to weeks-long delays in tabulation, sometimes even resulting in the wrong person being declared the winner!

Prop 140 Undemocratically Gives One Politician Too Much Power

It’s important to read the fine print (all five pages of it) because the drafters of Prop 140 thought that it would be a good idea to put all power into the hands of just one partisan politician, the Secretary of State, to decide how many candidates appear on the general election ballot for every race, including his own. Under Prop 140, he then gets to unilaterally write the rulebook for how the general election would run. This centralization of power is unprecedented and a recipe for corruption and gamesmanship!

Prop 140 Creates a Patchwork Ballot with Different Schemes for Different Races

Prop 140 was so poorly drafted that it will lead to patchwork ballots with different schemes for different races. The Secretary of State could force ranked choice voting in one race, but not in another. Voters will go from one race where they are expected to rank 5 different candidates, and the very next race on their ballot will vote for just one candidate. Up and down the ballot, voters will switch back and forth from one set of rules to another, confusing especially vulnerable voters.

Prop 140 Is an Attempt to Logroll Voters

The drafters of Prop 140 desperately want voters to believe that the measure will only make a couple harmless changes to our elections. But the reality is they stuffed 15 separate constitutional amendments, many experimental, into one measure. Voters may like one provision but are forced to accept a host of provisions they would rather not enact.

Prop 140 Was Poorly Drafted, Even Worse than California

These California-style election schemes are bad on their own, but Prop 140 is so badly written it is somehow even worse—empowering one partisan politician to set the rules, allowing candidates from only one political party on the general election ballot, a random mix of ranked choice voting, and a confusing patchwork ballot. And that’s why they didn’t have enough signatures to even qualify for the ballot, and wanted the court to count their 40,000 duplicate signatures!

All of this is why individuals, organizations, and parties, right and left, have lined up to oppose Prop 140. Voters should protect Arizona from becoming another California by voting NO on Prop 140.

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