There are 13 statewide ballot propositions that Arizonans will get to vote on this year.
And, depending on where a voter lives, they might see several local ballot questions — either for their cities or school districts.
A listener asked through KJZZ's Q&AZ project how ballot initiatives get their numbers. Here's a quick guide.
100: Constitutional amendments
Under the Arizona Constitution, voters in the state have to approve all amendments to the state Constitution. Amendments can be initiated by voters through petition, or by the Arizona Legislature.
If an amendment gets enough signatures or is approved by the state Legislature, it’s placed on the ballot for the next general election and given a proposition number starting with 100.
Citizen-initiated constitutional amendments require signatures equivalent to 15% of votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election to advance to the ballot.
There are eight of these initiatives on the 2024 statewide ballot: Proposition 133: Partisan primaries; Proposition 134: Changes to citizen initiatives; Proposition 135: State of emergency powers; Proposition 136: Ballot measure challenges; Proposition 137: Judicial retention; Proposition 138: Tipped workers; Proposition 139: Right to abortion; Proposition 140: Open primaries.
200: Citizen initiatives
Citizen Initiatives are changes to state law initiated by the public. After enough voters sign petitions for a proposed initiative, it may end up on the state ballot. When they’re approved for the ballot, they’re assigned numbers starting with 200.
Citizen initiatives require signatures equivalent to 10% of votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election to advance to the ballot.
There are no citizen initiatives on the 2024 statewide ballot.
300: Legislative referendums
If enough voters disagree with a law passed by the state Legislature, they can call for a veto referendum by collecting signatures equivalent to 5% of votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election.
Additionally, if the state Legislature wants to make a change to a citizen initiative, it requires a 3/4 majority vote. If they can’t reach that majority, they can refer the law to the citizens to vote on. This is called a legislatively referred state statute, and like a veto referendum, it is assigned a 300 number.
Voters then get to decide if that law should be repealed.
There are five of these initiatives on the 2024 statewide ballot: Proposition 311: First responder death payment; Proposition 312: Property tax refund; Proposition 313: Child sex trafficking sentence; Proposition 314: Secure the Border Act; Proposition 315: Regulatory rule changes
400: Bonds, overrides, municipal and county issues
In 2004, Maricopa County voters approved Proposition 400, extending a half-cent sales tax increase for transportation funding. Only voters who lived in Maricopa County saw that on their ballots.
Propositions with 400 numbers allow voters to decide on issues like local sales tax increases, school district bonds and overrides and certain city budget issues.
Because of the hyper-local nature of these propositions, voters in different neighborhoods, school districts, fire districts, towns and cities see completely different questions. A bond override for one school district won’t show up on the ballot for a voter living in another district.
There are two of these initiatives for all the voters of Maricopa County: Proposition 479 and Proposition 486.
