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Since 2023, Arizona’s Republican legislators have faced a roadblock as they’ve tried to push through their unpopular, fringe agenda: Gov. Katie Hobbs’ veto stamp. But they haven’t let that stop them from attempting to remake Arizona’s elections in ways that will only benefit them.
One tool they have frequently used is legislative ballot referrals.
Doing so bypasses the governor’s desk and places a proposed change to state law directly onto the ballot. It has quickly become the Republican majority’s favorite way to attempt to pass their most deceptive, anti-democratic policies because it not only avoids a veto, but it shifts the responsibility to voters.
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While this may seem reasonable on its face, it becomes unreasonable when their reckless referrals create a two-sheet ballot — as happened last year — that costs Arizona taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars and was a contributing factor in delaying Arizona’s election results this cycle.
In 2024, Arizona’s ballot spilled onto two sheets of paper thanks to 11 statewide legislative referrals, leaving voters to decipher confusing proposition after confusing proposition. Republicans, incapable of engaging in any kind of negotiation with Hobbs, attempted to trick Arizonans rather than govern.
Arizonans largely saw through it, overwhelmingly rejecting Propositions 133, 134, 136, 137 and 138.
The overwhelming failure of these ballot measures not only proves that the Republican majority who supported these are out of touch but also leaves us with important questions: Where is the accountability? Why are these reckless legislators allowed to simply force us to use our own tax dollars to vote on whatever pet project they want us to? Then, when we reject it, legislators are just allowed to get away with forcing us to waste our own money?
It’s time for that to change.
The financial burden of paying for ballot referrals falling on Arizona taxpayers who are not asking to pay for this or wanting it is unacceptable. With the state already in a massive budget shortfall, Arizona Republicans are gearing up to waste even more dollars because preparing a ballot referral requires significant taxpayer-funded resources.
State agencies like the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) must allocate time and money to research and evaluate each referral for fiscal impact. The impact is also logistical — staff, legal, and administrative support are all diverted from important legislative work to move ballot measures through the process by which they are finalized and placed on the ballot.
Any legislator who voted for the glut of referrals that failed overwhelmingly, which were designed to avoid a veto, cannot be seen as a good steward of taxpayer money.
Republicans in the legislature may argue that sending matters to the ballot offers a direct line to the will of the voter, providing Arizonans with an opportunity to unequivocally weigh in on a policy change.
The concept of referring matters to the voters is intended to increase direct democracy, but this legislature is turning the process into a hyper-partisan method of policymaking. They are used out of sheer laziness by a legislative majority that refuses to even attempt to compromise with the governor.
It’s time to hold these legislators accountable for recklessly referring unpopular, deceptive policies to the ballot time and again and shifting the responsibility of what they were elected to do — govern — onto the shoulders of the voters.
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