Arizona judge rejects challenge to open primary measure

An Arizona superior court judge rejected a challenge to a measure, Proposition 140, that would amend the state constitution and allow for open primaries in the Grand Canyon State. 

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Frank Moskowitz ruled on Thursday that the votes can be counted for the proposal, dubbed “Make Arizona Elections Fair Act,” that would permit all registered voters in the state to pick from all candidates in the primary election, no matter which party the candidate represents. After all of the votes in the race end up being counted, the top two vote-getters would proceed to the general election. 

The measure has faced legal barriers from the right. The right-leaning Arizona Free Enterprise Club argued that nearly 40,000 of the proposition’s signatures were duplicates. 

Moskowitz did not take up the evidence of duplicate signatures, but soon after, the state’s Supreme Court ordered the former Gov. Jan Brewer-appointed judge to settle if duplicates were involved, according to The Arizona Mirror. The Arizona Supreme Court also said in their ruling that if the proposition did not get enough signatures, the votes for it should not be counted. After being asked to reevaluate the order, Arizona’s highest court walked back the statement, The Mirror reported. 

“This Court is unable to find any rational or other basis for ‘double counting’ invalid signatures in this case,” Moskowitz said in the Thursday ruling. “Applying the statutorily mandated ‘double counting’ of invalid signatures in this case would unreasonably hinder or restrict the Initiative and unreasonably supplant its purpose.”

The proponents of the measure welcomed this week’s ruling. 

“We are thrilled with the ruling today, which clears the way for #Prop140’s votes to be counted this November and for our campaign to begin in earnest,” Make Elections Fair for Arizona wrote in a statement on X. “Simultaneously, we are upset that we had to endure this type of judicial intervention, designed to prevent the will of Arizonans — the constitutional right of Arizonans — to petition their own government.”

Critics of the measure slammed Moskowitz’s ruling, alleging the judge is biased and in favor of placing the proposition on the November ballot. 

“From the moment he was unanimously rebuked by the AZ Supreme Court for blocking the removal of nearly 40,000 duplicate signatures, Judge Moskowitz has been trying to find a way to place Prop 140 on the ballot, irrespective of whether it had enough signatures to qualify,” Arizona Free Enterprise Club President Scot Mussi said in a statement. 

“Today he issued a ruling manufacturing that outcome, deciding that the statutory method for determining the number of valid signatures for ballot initiatives is now unconstitutional,” Mussi added.