Homeless in Arizona

Well I guess the real question is the initiative that is attempting to create a new system for primary elections unconstitutional because it violates the single subject rule.

Source

Suit targets Arizona election measure

Group: Ballot initiative on primary system violates single-subject rule

by Mary Jo Pitzl - Jul. 17, 2012 10:06 PM

The Republic | azcentral.com

A proposed constitutional amendment to create a new primary-election system violates the state's single-subject rule and should not go before voters in November, a new lawsuit charges.

The challenge to the Open Elections/Open Government effort comes from two Republicans, a Libertarian and the League of Women Voters of Arizona. In a filing in Maricopa County Superior Court, they allege the "top two" primary proposes multiple changes to the state's election process, running afoul of the requirement that ballot measures propose only one substantive change.

The filing marks the second time this month a high-stakes ballot issue faces a legal battle. Backers of a permanent 1-cent-per-dollar increase in the state sales tax to pay for education and construction projects are fighting to reinstate their measure on the Nov. 6 ballot. They head to court today.

Secretary of State Ken Bennett disqualified the measure earlier this month, saying supporters did not follow proper procedures for filing and circulating their proposal.

The two citizen-driven measures have drawn fierce opposition from many established politicians. The measures seek to make potentially dramatic changes in the state's election and budgeting processes.

The education-tax measure would send money directly to various education programs and construction projects, bypassing the Legislature's budget control. It also would block lawmakers from cutting the portion of the education budget under their control to counterbalance the new money produced by the sales tax.

Gov. Jan Brewer has spoken against the measure, as have lawmakers and some business groups.

The top-two primary would scrap Arizona's existing partisan-primary system and require all candidates for any given office to run in a single primary. They could run with conventional party labels, one of their own choosing or none at all. The top two finishers would advance to a general-election runoff.

Joe Yuhas, who is running the Open Elections campaign, said the group expected a suit from "the political bosses and lobbyists" who failed to get the Legislature to stop the measure. This month, the Legislature was on the verge of passing what it called an "alternative" to the proposal.

Yuhas and other supporters say it would boost more moderate candidates and move Arizona away from nominating candidates from the political fringes.

But, in their suit, the plaintiffs argue that the proposed measure would repeal not only partisan primaries but also a separate law that allows independent voters to cast a ballot in the primary of their choice.

Plaintiffs include former state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jaime Molera, a Republican, and Barry Hess, a former Libertarian candidate for governor.

The proposal also would repeal the law that establishes a political-party system, would conflict with the state's public-campaign-finance system and would dilute the voting power of minority voters by allowing several minority candidates to compete against each other, according to the lawsuit.

The case has not been assigned a court date, but deadlines loom. Maricopa County election officials have set a Tuesday deadline for printing the general-election ballot, said Matt Roberts, a spokesman for the Secretary of State's Office.

Michael Liburdi, an attorney for the plaintiffs, acknowledged the time pressure in his complaint. The lawsuit asks for the measure to be barred from the ballot. But if there's not time to do that, it asks the court to direct the Secretary of State's Office to not count the votes.