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Bill would set double standard on [AZ] primary vote
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| Parent(s) |
Candidate
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| Contributor | RP |
| Last Edited | RP Jan 08, 2008 04:15pm |
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| Category | Proposed Legislation |
| Media | Newspaper - Tucson Citizen |
| News Date | Tuesday, January 8, 2008 10:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | A senior Republican legislator wants Arizona independents to be able to vote in the state's presidential primary election and for registered Republicans to also have a choice of party ballots. However, Democrats would have to stick with their own.
Registered independents can pick a party's ballot to cast in the state's September primary election but they can't participate in the presidential primary. That election, which falls on Feb. 5 this year, is open only to registered Republicans or Democrats and only in their own parties.
However, a bill (SB1064) introduced by Sen. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, would let independents pick a ballot to cast in the presidential vote. And Republicans, identified in the bill as voters belonging to the party "with the highest number of registered voters," also would get to choose a ballot. Democrats would get their own party's ballot.
Republicans account for 38 percent of the electorate, Democrats 33 percent, independents 28 percent and Libertarians less than 1 percent.
Harper declined to explain the bill's disparate treatment for Republicans and Democrats, repeatedly telling reporters that the bill's underlying goal was to empower independents.
"The Democratic Party has come to represent very small constituencies. They're being manipulated by their very liberal base, and I believe the Republican Party is most in line with the majority of Arizonans," he said. |
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