What's on your ballot?

Study up before performing your civic duty.

Lawmakers and Gov. Katie Hobbs narrowly averted one potential electoral crisis yesterday — the election timeline debacle officials have been warning about for months — when they agreed on a plan to move the primary election date up a week to July 30.¹

Now that we can all breathe a little easier knowing our votes for president will actually count,² it seems like a good time to talk about what will be on your ballot. Yes, lots of candidates, including those running president,³ but also potentially a dozen or more “yes or no” questions that will have far more direct implications on your life than any one politician can. 

So today, let’s talk about the questions on your ballot — so far — and what else might be coming. There’s still time to help your favorite issues qualify for the ballot, or oppose the worst ideas, so pay attention.

A bit of background: There are two main ways a question can end up on your ballot: enough voters can sign a petition to put it on the ballot, or lawmakers⁴ can vote to send a question to the ballot. 

Here’s what we know we’re voting on and what’s still up in the air:

• So far, there are four questions on your ballot

• Plus, at least three citizen initiatives look like they have a good chance of qualifying

• And lawmakers are still debating dozens more ideas that could wind up on your ballot 

Our art intern, ChatGPT, really nailed the polling place vibe.

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Already on the ballot 

Lawmakers send questions to the ballot for a variety of reasons: to give voters a say on the issue of the day (or duck responsibility for a hard decision), to raise taxes without a supermajority vote in the Legislature or to change the state Constitution, which they can only do with voter approval. 

Already, lawmakers have sent four questions to the 2024 ballot. And that was just the batch they lined up last year. This year they’re debating adding another few dozen questions that could potentially wind up on your ballot. 

But these four are already guaranteed a spot on your November ballot.

HCR2039: COVID emergency powers

Lawmakers want voters to limit the governor’s power to declare and maintain a state of emergency, a fight that started brewing during the COVID days under Gov. Doug Ducey. 

HCR2039 asks voters to end states of emergency after 30 days unless lawmakers vote to extend it. If at least a third of the members in both the House and Senate sign a petition, lawmakers can call a special session and terminate or alter the governor’s powers. 

SCR1015: Fewer initiatives

Lawmakers also want voters to make it harder to pass citizen initiatives (those other questions on the ballot) by requiring that signatures come from every corner of the state.  

If voters approve SCR1015, citizen initiatives would have to get 10% (or 15% for a change to the Constitution) of voters' signatures in each of the state’s 30 legislative districts to qualify, rather than getting the signatures from a few major population centers.

SCR1006: Charge the criminals (money)

Lawmakers want voters to charge everyone convicted of criminal offenses another $20 per conviction, and put that money into a fund to pay $250,000 to the spouse or children of first responders killed in the line of duty.

HCR2033:  Keep the primaries closed

Finally, lawmakers want to head off an attempt to create open primaries in Arizona. HCR2023 would enshrine the current partisan primary model in the state Constitution. 

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Voter initiatives

The second route to putting a question on the ballot is a lot harder. 

To put an initiative up for a statewide vote, backers will need at least 255,949 valid signatures from registered voters (or 383,923 signatures for constitutional amendments). And because every signature will be scoured over by opponents for potential legal challenges, organizers really need double the minimum to be safe.

The deadline to submit signatures is July 3.

To start a petition, you just have to file with the secretary of state’s office — so there are a lot of not-so-serious ideas on the list (medical magic mushrooms, anyone?). It takes a lot of focus, time and money to garner a half-million signatures.

These three campaigns look serious enough to pull it off. 

Arizona for Abortion Access

Reproductive rights groups are trying to amend Arizona’s Constitution to solidify the right to abortion and prohibit the state from adopting measures restricting abortion access. It comes at a critical time when the reversal of Roe v. Wade left abortion policy up to each state.

And in Arizona, the law still isn’t even clear. Legislators passed a law in 2022 that bans abortions after 15 weeks, only allows them for medical emergencies and doesn’t allow exceptions for rape or incest. 

But Arizona’s Supreme Court is currently considering whether a near-total abortion ban from 1864 should trump the 15-week law. Both versions would provide a legal basis to prosecute medical providers for providing abortions. 

If the measure passes, Arizona would join a host of other states protecting abortion rights through voter-led initiatives in the post-Roe era, including Kansas, Kentucky and Ohio.  

Make Elections Fair Arizona

Make Election Fair is an attempt to get rid of Arizona’s partisan primary system by allowing voters to choose any primary candidate regardless of their party, and instead of one Democrat and Republican advancing to the primaries to compete with any third-party nominees, the top vote-getters would advance. 

It also evens the playing field for independents by requiring all candidates to gather the same number of signatures to qualify for the ballot. Currently, independents need about 500% more signatures. 

But it’s not exactly the ranked-choice voting system that other states are adopting. The proposal leaves it up to the Legislature to decide how the general election shakes out. Lawmakers have to decide to advance anywhere between two to five candidates, and any choice besides two would require ranked-choice voting where a voter ranks the candidates in order of their preference. 

Raise the Wage AZ

Also known as the One Fair Wage Act, it would raise the minimum wage to $16 an hour in 2025, and continue to increase it based on cost of living. Tipped workers’ base wages would also increase until they reach the complete minimum wage amount, not including tips. 

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More coming?

Lawmakers have proposed dozens of legislative referrals this year, touching on everything from Airnbns to splitting Maricopa County into three counties.⁵ But they’ll probably (hopefully) only send another handful to the ballot.⁶

These measures still need legislative approval, so there’s still time to let your lawmakers know how you feel about them. But if passed by the Legislature, they bypass the governor and go straight to voters at the next general election.

And with a Democratic governor known for her veto stamp, the Legislature’s Republican majority is likely to send more controversial measures straight to voters to circumvent her this year. 

Here are a few we’re tracking:

• SCR1027 & HCR2047: Both Democrats and Republicans have floated ideas renewing Ducey’s Prop 123 to raise teacher pay, but only Republicans have officially introduced the plan in a bill. Sen. J.D. Mesnard and Rep. Matt Gress’ legislation would amend the Constitution to continue to draw down from the state land trust to give teachers a pay bump.

• SCR1002: Republican Sen. Jake Hoffman wants voters to bar state and local governments from taxing people based on the miles they travel in an electric car (or imposing any rules that would limit how many miles someone can drive, which nobody is trying to do). Localities are worried that banning taxes on electric vehicle drivers would cut off avenues to supplement the state’s gas tax, which pays for roads that electric vehicles also use. Arizona doesn’t currently impose any tax like that, however. 

• SCR1013: Sen. John Kavanagh wants voters to decide if teachers should be prohibited from using a student’s preferred name or pronoun that differs from their biological sex without getting parents’ permission. It would also ban transgender kids from school restrooms, locker rooms and showers. 

• SCR 1021 & HCR2042: A pair of resolutions from Sen. Shawnna Bolick and Rep. Selina Bliss want to ask voters to change the sentencing guidelines for those convicted of sex trafficking to natural life imprisonment. Currently, the crime is a class 2 felony that can carry a presumptive prison sentence of 20 years to natural life, but sentencing depends on the nature of the crime. Opponents argue that the measure could inadvertently impact victims while rewriting the definition of sex trafficking. 

• SCR1015 & HCR2040: Sen. Anthony Kern and  Rep. Austin Smith want to ban governments from spending money to promote replacing animal-based meat with synthetic protein or telling people to eat less meat. It would also bar promoting the reduction of vehicle traffic, airplane travel and greenhouse gas emissions, among other sets of strange provisions, like limiting the “number of articles of clothing individuals may purchase or own.” 

1. Correction: We meant July 30, not June 30.

2. At least as far as the Electoral College goes — not like in a one-vote-one-person sense, but let’s not dwell on that.

3. Basically all the politicians are up for reelection, except the statewide positions like governor, secretary of state, attorney general, etc. County offices are also up for re-election (though not every office) and depending on where you live, your city council members could be up for reelection, too. Plus, Kyrsten Sinema’s U.S. Senate seat and three seats on the Corporation Commission, which is actually a statewide office.

4. Most legislative bodies can refer a question to voters, but we’re just talking about statewide questions today, not all the local questions you might see on your ballot.  

5. To answer your burning question, the new counties would be called Mesquite County and Saguaro County.

6. The record, set in 2006, is 19 statewide questions (not to mention all the local ones).