A ballot proposition to end partisan
primaries in Arizona gathered enough signatures to qualify for the
November ballot, a judge ruled Thursday. 

Proposition 140,
a citizen initiative also known as the Make Elections Fair Act, would
amend the Arizona Constitution to create an open primary system where
all candidates for federal, state and local offices would face off in a
single primary election instead of segregated partisan elections. Those
primaries would also include candidates who are politically
unaffiliated. 

All registered voters would be able
to choose from all the candidates in the primary, and the top
vote-getters would advance to the general election, even if they don’t
represent different parties.

“The committee looks forward to
defending the trial court’s decision before the Arizona Supreme Court,
and is eager to focus our efforts on Prop 140’s passage in November,”
Sarah Smallhouse, the chair of the political action committee backing
the ballot initiative, said in a press release. 

Prop. 140 still faces a legal
challenge from opponents to the measure who say it violates the state
constitution’s single-subject rule for ballot initiatives. On Aug. 9, the same judge ruled that the initiative does not violate the state constitution’s single-subject rule.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge
Frank Moskowitz ruled Thursday that Prop. 140 had 536,216 valid
signatures after the committee submitted more than 540,000. The minimum
number of valid signatures for constitutional amendments to make it onto
the ballot in 2024 is 383,923. 

The committee also won another
challenge recently in which a judge declared that language written by
lawmakers describing the ballot initiative to voters was “misleading.” That ruling can also be challenged to the Arizona Supreme Court. 

Lawmakers have until Aug. 29 to submit new language to the court for approval.