Bill would curb voters’ ability to choose whom the state sends to the U.S. Senate, reports Capitol Media Services.
The proposal by Rep. Travis Grantham, R-Gilbert, would leave intact the general election process where voters get the last word. In fact, he can’t touch that because the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which took effect in 2013, requires that senators be directly elected.
But Grantham’s HCR 2022 would limit their choices in November to only those candidates that state legislators from each major party determine are worthy. And as crafted, those choices would be only Republicans and Democrats: It contains no method for minor parties to name their own candidates, and no way for independents to run in the general election unless they somehow got the blessing and nomination of partisan legislators.
“The problem with the current system is that United States senators really have no accountability back to the state right now, Grantham told Capitol Media Services.
“I don’t have any day-to-day, week-to-week, or, quite honestly, year-to-year contact with my U.S. senator,” he said.
The bill His would amend the Arizona Constitution, which requires voter ratification. But Grantham said he thinks voters could be persuaded to see that the current system of direct nomination of senators does not always get them the best — and most responsive — senators.
