The deadline to register to vote in the 2024 general election is coming up on Monday, Oct. 7.
We encourage all potential voters who have never voted before, and new residents qualified to register to vote, to do so as soon as possible. It’s not hard, but super-easy, barely an inconvenience: The easiest place to register is online at servicearizona.com, a website run by the Arizona Motor Vehicle Division, by clicking the blue “Voter Registration” box. You can register until 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 7.
Existing voters should also check their registration status on the site. Many of us received a new voter ID card earlier this year. If you didn’t, go check.
To vote, you must be a citizen of the United States of America, a resident of Arizona, have not been convicted of a felony or have had your civil rights restored by a court or judge, not been adjudicated as incapacitated with voting rights revoked and be at least 18 years of age by the next general election on Nov. 5 — i.e., born before Nov. 5, 2006.
■ Yavapai County is asking voters to raise the permanent base adjustment by $7.9 million. This is a budget issue that would allow the county to spend more of its projected revenues in the annual budget.
■ Coconino County is asking voters to change its base expenditure limit.
■ In the Sedona-Oak Creek School District, voters will decide on whether to allow the district to sell Big Park Community School. There is no buyer at the moment, so the campus will not be sold anytime soon. School districts can’t sell public land without public approval, so this would only give the district the option to sell should a buyer appear.
■ Sedona voters will also decide on a referendum to repeal a City Council decision in March to build a car camping site for the homeless at the Sedona Cultural Park, which the city purchased in late 2022.
There are 13 ballot measures. Six are legislature-referred constitutional amendments:
■ Prop. 133: The measure would keep the state’s standard primary election the same, but prevent towns and cities from using top-two, top-four and top-five primaries.
■ Prop. 134: The measure would mandate that citizen-initiated ballot measures meet a signature threshold in all 30 legislative districts to add items to the ballot. This could kill the citizen-initiated ballot process by forcing petition collectors to get a minimum number of signatures in every district, some heavily partisan, rather than statewide. The legislature has been trying to limit the power of citizens to draft ballot measures ever since our statehood in 1912 and this is the latest attempt to do so.
■ Prop. 135: Would limit the governor’s power to declare an emergency to 30 days. This is a belated response to former Gov. Doug Ducey’s state of emergency at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic that lasted over two years.
■ Prop. 136: Would provide for preemptive legal challenges to ballot initiatives if they may run afoul of the state or U.S. constitutions. Typically, the Arizona Supreme Court defers to voters, then decides the constitutionality of initiatives if or when someone sues.
■ Prop. 137: Would end term limits for state supreme court justices and superior court judges and end retention elections.
■ Prop. 138: Would allows for tipped workers to be paid 25% less per hour than the minimum wage if the worker’s total compensation is not less than $2 over the minimum wage.
There are two constitutional amendments proposed by citizens:
■ Prop. 139: Would provide for a state constitutional right to abortion before fetal viability, which is about 24 weeks.
■ Prop. 140: Would require open primary elections, with top-two primaries or up to top-five primaries. The number of candidates advancing from the primaries to the general election could be from four to seven if no one win a majority of votes in the primary.
Five are legislature-referred state statutes:
■ Prop. 311: Would establish a $20 fee on every criminal conviction, which would ne used to pay a benefit of $250,000 to the family of a first responder killed in the line of duty.
■ Prop. 312: Would allow property owners to apply for a property tax refund in certain circumstances if a city does not enforce laws regarding illegal camping and other issues connected to homeless people.
■ Prop. 313: Would mandate life imprisonment for anyone convicted of child sex trafficking.
■ Prop. 314: Would allow local police to arrest noncitizens who enter Arizona from foreign countries at locations other than official ports. This is likely preempted as unconstitutional by federal immigration law.
■ Prop. 315: Would prohibit an administrative rule from becoming effective if it will increase regulatory costs by more than $500,000 within five years, until the legislature ratifies the rule.
Arizona has had no-excuse-required mail-in voting since 1991, and about 88% of Arizona voters cast their ballot by this means. Voters can choose vote by mail and will get a ballot after Wednesday, Oct. 9. The last day to request a ballot by mail is Friday, Oct. 25.
You can also vote in person at the Yavapai County Recorder’s Office in Cottonwood and Prescott and other official vote centers. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5.
