Prop. 140 failed, but Arizona open primary proponents say they'll try again

A citizen effort to change Arizona’s partisan primary system to an open one has failed.

Proposition 140 would have established open primaries in which voters would be able to vote for candidates regardless of political party.

The Associated Press called the race early Wednesday, with just over 40% of voters supporting the measure.

“We’ve got to continue to try,” Prop. 140 architect Chuck Coughlin said Wednesday. “We've got to continue to try and educate people as to what the source of these conflicts are, why they exist and help them understand what is bedeviling the American political system today.”

Coughlin said he wants to try again, potentially in 2028.

Coughlin argues that Arizona’s existing system makes it easier for “extreme” candidates to advance to the general election, which increases hyperpartisanship and produces elected officials who are only responsive to a minority of the electorate.

Opponents of the measure said it is too complicated, that it would mandate ranked choice voting, cause more suspicion about election results and simply make elections harder.

An opposing measure to codify Arizona’s partisan primary system in the state Constitution also failed with support from around 42% of voters. That measure, Prop. 133, was referred to the ballot by Republican lawmakers.

Both Republicans and Democrats opposed the open primaries measure, which Coughlin said is because it threatens their monopoly control of politics.

One thing Coughlin said he would have done differently is clarify that the open primaries measure would let just the top two vote getters advance to a general election; meaning that it wouldn’t allow for ranked choice voting. Given the margin of Prop. 140’s defeat, he also said that wouldn’t have been enough to save it.

“We never thought this was going to be easy. … You have deeply ingrained partisan behavior that values party identity over individual identity, and people value their party more than their country, or more than their state, or more than their principles, and you have to continue to point that out to them,” Coughlin said.