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There are two 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 projecthow ballot initiatives, like Propositions 207 and 208, got their numbers.
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.
There are currently no amendments on the ballot this year, but during the 2018 election, voters approved two of the three proposed amendments. Proposition 125, which dealt with public employee pensions, and Proposition 126, which prohibited the state government from raising taxes on services, were approved by voters. Proposition 127, which would have mandated renewable energy, failed.
Citizen-initiated constitutional amendments require at least 356,467 signatures — equivalent to 15% of votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election — to advance to the ballot.
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.
This year, voters will get their say on two citizen initiatives: Proposition 207, which would legalize recreational marijuana, and Proposition 208, which would impose a tax surcharge on high-income residents to fund education.
Citizen initiatives require at least 237,645 signatures — equivalent to 10% of votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election — to advance to the 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 at least 118,823 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 no legislative referendums on the 2020 ballot, but in 2018, Arizona voters got to weigh in on both a veto referendum and a legislatively-referred state statute.
Proposition 305 was a veto referendum that sought to repeal a state law expanding the state’s Educational Savings Account law. The law was repealed by a nearly 65%-35% margin. Proposition 306 was a legislatively referred state statute that dealt with campaign finance rules, and passed by a nearly 56%-44% margin.
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.
