PHOENIX — It looks like the system used in Arizona to nominate and elect public officials is going to remain unchanged, at least for the next two years.
Preliminary returns showed voters rejecting Proposition 140 by a margin of close to 2-1.
That measure, dubbed Make Elections Fair, would have scrapped partisan primaries in all federal, state and local races.
Instead, all candidates from all parties — and those without political affiliation at all — would run against each other. And all registered voters of whatever stripe would make their choices.
But Prop 140 had a provision that made it a bit more complicated: It would allow the Legislature — or the secretary of state if lawmakers balk — to decide how many winners in the primary advance to the general election.
All that was simple if the answer was just two, with the general election serving as a runoff, even if it turns out both candidates are from the same political party. But it also permitted a decision to allow up to five to go on to the general election.
That, in turn, would have required a system where voters would rank their choices.
If no one got at least 50% of the vote on the first round, the candidate with the fewest votes would be dropped from the list. Then those who had chosen that person as their first choice would instead have their votes count for whoever they liked next best.
Opponents focused on that ranked-choice voting provision, calling it convoluted and confusing, to convince Arizonans not to make that change.
That desire to leave the election process alone, however, also resulted in the apparent defeat of Proposition 133.
This measure, put on the ballot by state lawmakers, would have enshrined the existing system of partisan primaries in the Arizona Constitution. Backers said that would ensure that those who go to the polls at general elections have a clear choice of political philosophies.
Those preliminary results showed it failing by about the same 2-1 margin as Prop 140.
One thing working against it was that it would have done more than preserve partisan primaries.
It also would have allowed lawmakers in the future to override the practice used in most cities and towns — Tucson being an exception — of having nonpartisan council elections.
