This November, Arizona could change the rules of electoral politics 

Arizona is center stage for every issue that Democrats and Republicans are using to drive votes to Donald Trump or Joe Biden. Immigration, abortion and the rise of the Latino electorate. Climate change. Election denialism and election protectionism. Inflation and tax policy. It’s all front and center in Arizona politics, one of the last remaining competitive states in the country.  

But right below the surface, another seismic issue is making its way to the ballot this November: a referendum to change the rules of the political game itself. Conventional pundits may be ignoring democracy reform in favor of traditional policy debates, but voters aren’t. More and more states are exploring reform, and what’s happening right now in Arizona could be a significant game-changer for the entire country.  

Last year, independents tied Republicans as the largest group of voters in the Grand Canyon State.  It’s right there in the voter registration data: 1.4 million Republicans, 1.4 million independents, 1.2 million Democrats. This rapid rise of independent voters echoes a national trend but is amplified in Arizona because of how evenly matched the two parties are with each other. Independents have become the kingmakers.  

But the lived experience of independents in Arizona is that they are second-class citizens. 

In Arizona, like in many other states, election administration is partisan. Independents have no representation on boards of elections and can’t serve as poll workers or election judges. The state has open primaries for down-ballot races but forces independents to “pick a party” in order to participate. That’s at odds with what Thom Reily of ASU’s Center for an Independent and Sustainable Democracy recently noted: “The defining feature of independents is that candidates and issues, not party loyalty, drive their choices.”  

Arizona has mail-in voting, but independents must jump through Kafkaesque hoops to receive a primary ballot. Independent candidates must collect six times the number of signatures compared to party candidates — and even if they clear that hurdle, they don’t appear on the primary ballot. And Arizona completely bars independents from participating in the presidential preference elections that their tax dollars pay for!  

A diverse group of Arizona citizens is working to level the playing field and, with largely local funding, has founded Make Elections Fair AZ to empower independents and revitalize the state’s political culture. They are close to turning in the requisite signatures to place a first-of-its-kind referendum on the ballot this November. Part One would create a nonpartisan first round election so all voters and all candidates are on equal footing and voters can choose from among all the candidates. Part Two is an open presidential primary that would allow all citizens to cast a ballot. If the parties want to restrict participation, they can — but only if they pay for the private election themselves.  

Why is restructuring primary elections so important? In Arizona, almost half of all general election races for state legislature in the last cycle ranged from outright uncontested to complete blowouts. Less than a quarter of all races were competitive in November. Nonpartisan primaries will create genuinely competitive general elections in every corner of the state.  

At a time when the Democratic and Republican playbooks are built around “divide and conquer” and “do anything you have to get 50.1 percent,” the Make Elections Fair team is putting basic American values that have wide cross-partisan appeal on the ballot. Treat all voters and candidates the same. Let all voters vote for whomever they want in every taxpayer funded election. Competition, not coronation.  

And this referendum, if it passes, won’t cut the people’s elected leaders out of the picture. The legislature will have to design a new system that treats all voters and all candidates fairly and equally, opens the presidential primaries, and combines a nonpartisan primary for state and federal races with a competitive general election in which the winner gets a clear majority.  

The current rules in Arizona empower small groups of partisan insiders and muzzle independents at precisely the time when their voices are needed to counteract the 24/7 warfare between Team Blue and Team Red. The Make Elections Fair team has created a vehicle to propel the values of fairness, competition and inclusion onto center stage, at precisely the moment when our country desperately needs them.  

Jeremy Gruber and John Opdycke are the SVP and president of Open Primaries, a national election reform organization.