As someone who worked in our schools for close to 30 years, I cannot recall all the times I heard our students complain that something was “unfair.” Young people, as they are trying to figure out their place in our world, often have stark ideas of what is right and wrong. It is hard to see how anyone, regardless of their age, could see our current election system as fair to independent voters in our state. That is why I am voting for Proposition 140 and hope you will as well.
Independents are the fastest growing segment of the electorate in our country, our state, our county and the district I represent. However, if they want to participate in primary elections for federal, state and local offices, they are required to take additional steps to do so. As for the presidential preference elections Arizona political parties conduct every four years, they cannot participate in them at all. If they want to run for office, they have to collect many more nominating signatures than those running with a party label just to get on the ballot.
You can certainly see how the treatment of independents is unfair to them, but it also hurts the rest of us. Due to the manner in which the lines for our political districts are drawn, many of them consist of huge majorities of either Democratic or Republican voters. The chances that a candidate from a minority party (or an independent) will win in the general election are remote. As a result, the likely winner of the offices in those districts are often decided in the majority party’s primary.
Consider our 30 state legislative districts. Only five or six of them are competitive in a general election. In the rest of them, the winners are decided in the majority party’s primary. In many cases, including this year, the minority parties do not bother to field a candidate in the general election. Throughout our state, there are several state representatives and senators who already know they will represent their district in the Arizona Legislature next year because they have no general election opponents.
Voters in party primary elections are often more partisan than their neighbors. They also constitute a small minority of the electorate in their communities. Given our current system, however, they wield enormous power. The impact of their choices can result in the election of leaders who are not representative of the values and beliefs of the entire community.
Proposition 140 would change that and for the better. All candidates for any office in Arizona would compete in an “open primary.” Each one would have to submit the same number of nominating signatures to qualify for the ballot. The Legislature would decide how many candidates would advance to the general election. If they chose to have more than the top two finishers move forward, voters would utilize a “ranked choice” system in the general election.
Even in areas where one party dominates, the fact that all voters would have an equal voice in both the primary and general elections would force candidates to address the concerns of the entire community, not just the agenda of one political party. Although it is possible in those areas that more than one candidate of the majority party advanced to the general election, they would need to appeal to all voters in making their case. This would inevitably result in enriched public dialogue and the election of leaders who can advocate for the interests of their entire community.
The two major political parties oppose Proposition 140. The current system stacks the deck in their favor, so their opposition makes sense. I am a proud member of my party, but its interests should not dictate how we conduct our political and governance systems.
The passage of Proposition 140 will result in more fair treatment of independent voters and candidates, but all of us will benefit from a system that encourages more voter participation and that encourages a greater focus on the pressing issues we want our leaders to address. Please join me in voting YES on Proposition 140.