PHOENIX, ARIZONA – Today, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the signature challenge lawsuit against Proposition 140, which was facing a potential deadline due to the printing of ballots, may continue to ensure that the nearly 40,000 duplicate signatures are examined and removed from the final tally. If removed, the measure will lack the minimum number of signatures required to qualify for the ballot. Prop 140 is seeking to enact a California-style election scheme built around ranked choice voting and jungle primaries.
The Court ordered that since ballots are being printed as of August 23, the proposition should still be included on the ballot. However, the Court warned that if the judicial system disqualified Prop 140 in the coming weeks, an injunction would be issued to prohibit any votes from being counted for this specific measure.
“I am grateful for this thoughtful decision from the Arizona Supreme Court,” said Scot Mussi, President of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club. “At no time did the trial court judge or the committee in favor of the initiative provide evidence as to why these signatures were not duplicates, but instead relied on a strategy of obstruction to run out the clock. The lateness of this challenge did not have to be the case if the lower court had only adhered to the Supreme Court’s earlier directive for all duplicates to be removed from the qualifying count. For any ballot measure – but especially one that would fundamentally transform our elections systems – Arizonans deserve complete confidence that our courts are applying all laws fairly and justly.”
As the Court wrote, “There is no statutory directive that a court resolve an election challenge like this one before the ballot printing deadline. Regardless, this Court, and indeed the trial court, has consistently endeavored to resolve initiative challenges before the ballot printing deadline… But the courts’ role is to dispense justice. Courts cannot be forced to rule rashly to meet a ballot printing deadline or provide the parties with certainty.”
Of the 40,000 duplicates that were included when the Prop 140 Committee submitted their signatures to the Secretary of State, around 250 people had signed five or more times. One individual had signed 15 times. All those signatures were included in the final tabulation by the Arizona Secretary of State. The lawyers for Prop 140 continue to deny, without evidence, that any of these signatures are duplicates.
“This isn’t a debate about dubious matches or concerns of same family members with the same name being confused as a duplicate,” Mussi continued. “All the duplicates submitted to be removed were exact name and address matches that aligned with what was on the voter file. Under state law, you are only allowed to sign a petition once, so they should have been removed. Instead, thousands of people were allowed to sign the initiative petition sheets multiple times, and those signatures were counted.”
Read the order from the Arizona Supreme Court here.
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PHOENIX, ARIOZNA – Today, the Arizona Free Enterprise Club announced General Election endorsements for federal offices in 2024.
The endorsed individuals align with the organization’s principles and key policy goals. Club President Scot Mussi stated, “It is a critical time in our country and in our state. We need fighters who will take on the Harris/Walz agenda that is crippling our economy, harming our children, and infringing on our Constitutional rights. These Club endorsed individuals will do just that. We encourage voters to support these candidates who will defend free market principles, advance conservative values, and combat federal overreach here in Arizona and in Washington, D.C. This slate of candidates has proven they can and will.”
President
Donald Trump
U.S. Senate
Kari Lake
.
CD 1
CD 2
CD 4
David Schweikert
Eli Crane
Kelly Cooper
.
CD 5
CD 6
CD 8
Andy Biggs
Juan Ciscomani
Abe Hamadeh
CD 9
Paul Gosar
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
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PHOENIX, ARIZONA – Today, the Supreme Court of the United States overruled the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s outrageous and unprecedented order that had overturned Arizona’s constitutional requirement for proof of citizenship for state registration forms and voting. The Supreme Court’s decision will require immediate enforcement of this provision, stopping those trying to register using the state form if they do not provide proof of citizenship.
“This is a great day for election integrity and transparency across Arizona,” said Scot Mussi, President of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club. “The U.S. Supreme Court rightly realized that the Ninth Circuit had created mass chaos of the law and precedent just a few months before the November General Election, and that this mess could not have been cleaned up after the fall contests. Today, Arizona will be able to protect our elections from illegals voting thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court. We will continue to fight against efforts from liberal special interests to dismantle these commonsense and constitutional laws requiring proof of citizenship to vote in our elections in the Ninth Circuit and look forward to all of the provisions being eventually upheld!”
The case before the U.S. Supreme Court involved a challenge to HB 2492, which was authored by the Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AZFEC) and passed by the Arizona Legislature in 2022 to stop non-U.S. citizens from registering to vote and casting ballots in our state. Previously, a panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit allowed Arizona officials to reject state voter registration forms without proof of citizenship, which was part of the intent and purpose of the law in question. Yet, another panel on the same appeals court inexplicably overturned this order, vacating enforcement of the law concerning state voter registration forms, leading to the emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
According to the order from the U.S. Supreme Court, Justices Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch would have granted the application in full, allowing Arizona to not only reject state forms without proof of citizenship, but also prevent Federal Only Voters from voting for President and by mail; while Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, Barrett, and Jackson would have denied the application in full. Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kavanaugh agreed with Justices Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch that Arizona may reject state voter registration forms without proof of citizenship.
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PHOENIX, ARIZONA – Last week, the Arizona Free Enterprise Club filed an amicus brief at the Supreme Court of the United States in RNC v. Mi Familia Vota. The filing to support an emergency application for stay before Supreme Court Justice Elana Kagan, seeks to bolster arguments for Arizona laws that were instituted to ensure that only U.S. citizens can vote in state elections.
The case before the U.S. Supreme Court involves a challenge to HB 2492, which was authored by the Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AZFEC) and passed by the Arizona Legislature in 2022 to stop non-U.S. citizens from registering to vote and casting ballots in our state. Previously, a panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit allowed Arizona officials to reject state voter registration forms without proof of citizenship, which was part of the intent and purpose of the law in question. Yet, another panel on the same appeals court inexplicably overturned this order, vacating enforcement of the law concerning state voter registration forms.
“With the November General Election right around the corner, Arizona election officials and voters need immediate and consistent clarity regarding the law for state voter registration forms,” said Scot Mussi, President of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club. “Because of this largely unprecedented and political move by the Ninth Circuit to create a conflict within its body of judges, the U.S. Supreme Court is needed to set the record straight and help Arizona enforce a commonsense law that will provide transparency and security to our elections.”
In the brief, AZFEC argues that Arizona adopted the voting laws to serve legitimate purposes, free from discriminatory animus; and that Constitutional text and the cannon of Constitutional avoidance demand enforcement of the voting laws.
As AZFEC highlights in its brief, there were disturbingly obvious legal errors made by the Ninth Circuit that could impact the upcoming November election. The errors from the appeals court would mean that indefensible judicial decisions would nevertheless carry the day due to the lack of a stay. These potential consequences illustrate the long-standing wisdom of staying injunctions against voting regulations when elections are imminent.
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Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
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Every election cycle, out-of-state special interest groups spend millions of dollars in Arizona to buy their initiatives onto our ballot. It often takes just a couple million dollars—pocket change to California billionaires—to pay a few hundred circulators to collect signatures. And they usually flood the streets with paid circulators in just Phoenix and Tucson, stripping all other Arizonans from having a voice in the process.
Not every state has a citizen initiative process. In fact, less than half (20) allow for citizen initiative amendments to state law. Arizona is even more unique because in 1998, the Arizona voters amended the constitution with the “Voter Protection Act,” preventing the legislature from amending any measure passed on the ballot unless they obtain a ¾ majority and the amendment “furthers the purpose” of the initiative. In effect, this means that anything passed on the ballot must go back to the ballot for future changes, much like a constitutional amendment.
Of those 20 states with a citizen initiative process, 11 have a signature distribution requirement. This means that in those states, the signatures cannot all be collected in just one city or major county, like they currently can here in Arizona. Instead, initiative proponents need to gain support from diverse regions of the state.
It’s time for Arizona to join them, and we can by adopting a Geographic Distribution requirement for signatures. Passed by the legislature in 2023 and appearing on the ballot this November as Prop 134, this requirement would ensure that any group proposing a statewide initiative (that will affect Arizonans in every corner of the state) must gather signatures in all 15 diverse counties in the state.
Right now, rural Arizonans are completely ignored in the process. It is easier to sit on college campuses and densely populated areas like downtown Phoenix to collect all the requisite signatures than to get the buy-in from the diverse interests of Arizonans in other parts of the state. These diverse interests have a right to a voice in determining whether an issue will appear on the ballot.
These statewide initiatives impact everyone. Allowing just the voters of Phoenix to decide what goes on the ballot, and then allowing the voters of just one big county to pass it with a bare majority, is unfair to the rest of Arizona’s voters. Not only that, once passed, it would take going to the ballot all over again if that measure has unintended consequences for rural Arizonans.
Prop 134 is a fair and balanced approach to increasing representation. Arizona is in the minority as a state with a citizen initiative process, an even smaller minority as a state without a geographic distribution requirement, and finally in a minority of one with the “Voter Protection Act” that essentially makes ballot measures permanent.
Requiring signatures to be collected from every district in Arizona will ensure proponents of initiatives speak to Arizonans across the state, increasing voter participation, and ensuring that any measure qualifying for the ballot in November has broad support from every part of the state, not just one demographic, in one area, with a limited scope of interests.
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
Join our FREE Grassroots Action List to stay up to date on the latest battles against big government and how YOU can help influence crucial bills at the Arizona State Legislature.
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