Arizona Superior Court judges ruled in favor of two Arizona ballot initiatives on Wednesday, but there was no immediate word on a third measure which would protect voting rights.
The Outlaw Dirty Money initiative requires that political contributions be disclosed to their original source. Under current law, “social welfare” committees can take anonymous contributions and pass the money to political campaigns without disclosing the source.
Opponents of the measure complained that circulators did not show their apartment numbers on affidavits. The online form provided by the Secretary of State leaves no place to enter an apartment number. The judge said he would have more sympathy for the plaintiffs if they had evidence of being unable to reach a circulator.
The Healthcare Rising initiative faced similar technical legal challenges. The judge in that case also was unmoved by a lack of apartment numbers for the circulators. Their measure protects against predatory debt collection practices, capping interest rates on medical debt and limiting what property can be seized.
The Arizona Fair Elections Act concluded its oral arguments Tuesday, and the judge promised a decision no later than Friday. It faces similar challenges to the ones rejected in the Dirty Money and Healthcare Rising cases.
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Supporters of the initiative filed 475,000 petition signatures, more than twice the number required.
All three initiatives are intended for the November ballot.
The cases are being held in Maricopa County Superior Court, the trial-level court in the state’s capital city of Phoenix. The Supreme court review is done on briefs only and needs to be completed by Friday Aug. 26 so ballots can be printed. Time is tight because mail ballots need to be distributed Oct. 12.
The Fair Elections Act expands automatic voter registration, allows for election-day registration and counts ballots postmarked by election day. It pushes back on several efforts by the Legislature at voter suppression.
It removes voter suppression from Arizona law, gives the state one of the best voting laws in the country and protects voting rights into the future.
The Fair Elections Act specifically prevents the Legislature from stealing electoral votes, as some attempted to do in the 2020 election. It prohibits turning over ballots and election materials to unauthorized people for “audits” held without judicial supervision under law.
If you would like to support our campaign financially, please give at ActBlue or write to me at Arizona Deserves Better, c/o Eric Kramer, 1910 Douglas Fir Dr., Pinetop, AZ 85935.