What is needed to put an item on the ballot is to get 10% of signatures from people who voted in the last gubernatorial election.
Jakob Thorington
Arizona Capitol Times
Legislative Republicans are asking voters to make it harder to put voter initiatives on the ballot.
Ballot initiatives and referendums have long been a practice for Arizona voters to change the Constitution while bypassing the state Legislature. What is needed to put an item on the ballot is to get 10% of signatures from people who voted in the last gubernatorial election.
On Monday, House Republicans passed a measure on party lines that would require 10% of signatures from voters in each of the state’s 30 legislative districts if approved by voters, meaning one district could prevent an initiative from reaching the ballot.
Democrats opposed the resolution, SCR 1015, and said they were concerned it would give one district veto power over the rest of the state.
“That’s wrong. That’s antithetical to the citizen initiative process. That’s antithetical to our direct democracy and if I come from a rural area, I don’t see why I’d hand over that power to the voters of Maricopa County, who comprise of the majority of qualified electors,” said Rep. Athena Salman, D-Tempe.
