Mary Jo Pitzl
Arizona Republic
Arizona will stage two presidential preference elections in March after a last-minute bid from Republicans in Maricopa County to conduct their own election failed.
Both the Democratic and Republican parties will participate in the taxpayer-funded March 19 preference elections, where voters registered with those parties will make their choices for the presidential ticket.
The Maricopa County Republican Party tried to get the state GOP to back an election that the party would run on its own terms, including in-person-only voting and hand counting of results.
But party Chairman Jeff DeWit, citing legal concerns and time constraints, said there wasn’t time to convene a meeting of the statewide executive committee to take up the county party’s plan.
The political parties faced a Sept. 1 deadline to notify the Arizona secretary of state if they would opt out of the March 19 election. The newly minted No Labels Party was the only one to respond. The Libertarian Party traditionally has eschewed taxpayer funded primaries.
