Howard Fischer
Capitol Media Services
Arizonans may get the chance to scrap the historic system by which nominees for public office are chosen, a move that, if successful, could reshape the state Legislature and congressional delegation.
Paperwork filed Monday with the Secretary of State’s Office would create an open primary for all elections. That covers everyone from members of Congress and statewide elected officials to legislators, supervisors and, in the case of Tucson, its partisan city elections.
At the bare minimum, that would mean all candidates from all parties — and those with no partisan affiliation — would vie in the primary.
More to the point, every registered voter would get a chance to vote. Now, primaries essentially are party affairs, limited to those who are registered with that party.
Independents, the largest bloc of Arizona voters, can participate in a partisan primary. But there are hurdles, including a need ahead of time to choose which party’s ballot they want.
Sarah Smallhouse, who chairs the Make Elections Fair Committee that is sponsoring the ballot proposal, said the current system — with taxpayers paying for the cost of running partisan primaries — is unfair because it “discriminates” against that plurality of independent voters.
But the real net effect of the measure would be to create a system where nominees would be chosen regardless of their political affiliation.
