An Arizona Superior Court judge has dismissed a challenge to Proposition 140, a bill that would have amended the state constitution to allow open primary elections in the Grand Canyon State.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Frank Moskowitz ruled Thursday that votes can be counted for a proposition dubbed the “Arizona Election Integrity Act.” The bill would allow all registered voters in the state to choose from all candidates in a primary election, regardless of which party the candidates represent. After all votes in a race are counted, the top two vote-getters would advance to the general election.
The bill faces legal obstacles from the right, including the right-leaning Arizona Free Enterprise Club, which has argued that nearly 40,000 of the signatures on the bill are duplicates.
Moskowitz didn't address the evidence of duplicate signatures, but soon after, the state Supreme Court ordered a judge appointed by former Gov. Jan Brewer to settle whether there were duplicate signatures. According to The Arizona Supreme Court also said in a ruling that votes in favor of a proposal shouldn't be counted if the proposal didn't receive enough signatures. The Arizona Supreme Court retracted that statement after being asked to reconsider the order, the Mirror reported.
“In this case, the Court finds no rational or other basis for 'double counting' the invalid signatures,” Judge Moskowitz wrote in Thursday's ruling. “Applying the statutory requirement to 'double count' invalid signatures in this case would unduly frustrate or limit the initiative and unfairly defeat its purposes.”
Supporters of the measure welcomed this week's ruling.
“We are excited about today's ruling, which clears the way for #Prop140 votes to be counted in November and for our campaign to begin in earnest,” the Arizona Campaign for Elections Fairness said in a statement. statement “At the same time, we are outraged that we have had to endure this type of judicial intervention designed to thwart the will of Arizonans – their constitutional right to petition their own government.”
Critics of the bill slammed Judge Moskowitz's ruling, arguing that he was biased and in favor of putting the measure on the November ballot.
“From the moment the Arizona Supreme Court unanimously rebuked Judge Moskowitz for blocking the removal of nearly 40,000 duplicate signatures, Judge Moskowitz has been looking for a way to put Proposition 140 on the ballot regardless of whether there were enough signatures,” said Scott Mussi, president of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club. statement.
“Today, the President issued a ruling confirming that result, determining that the statutory formula for determining the number of valid signatures for a ballot initiative is unconstitutional,” Mussi added.
