10 Props in 14 Minutes: What You Need to Know About Arizona’s Ballot Propositions (video)

Election Day, Nov. 8, is fast approaching.

Early ballots are arriving in mailboxes all over Arizona.

Signs are popping up on street corners, in front yards and on vehicles around town.

Social media is abuzz with clever memes and video pop-ups to snag your attention and sway your vote on candidates and issues.

Traditional television advertising is carpet-bombing living rooms across the nation with negative messages fueled by special interest groups, billionaires, and dark money.

This tsunami of mixed messages from random sources with questionable credentials leaves many voters overwhelmed and wondering which messages are true and which messengers are trustworthy.

This is where constituent education comes in …

Arizonans face a long ballot as they cast their votes on or before Nov. 8. Besides voting on statewide, legislative, judicial and school board candidates, there are 10 propositions on the ballot. Of the 10 propositions:

• Eight were referred to the ballot by the Arizona Legislature.
• Six of the legislative referrals are bad ideas that limit the rights of Arizonans or attempt to game the system.
• Five of the legislative referrals are Constitutional Amendments.
• Two of the other propositions are Citizens Initiatives.

This blog post and embedded video provide basic background on all 10 propositions on the Arizona ballot. The video is a recording of my talk to Democrats of Greater Tucson (DGT) on October 10, 2022. It covers the propositions in a nutshell:

The No’s are: Prop128, Prop 129, Prop 130, Prop 131, Prop 132, Prop 309 (All were referred to the ballot by the Legislature. Click on the links to see video explanations about each of these.)

The Yes’s are: Prop 209 (Predatory Debt Protection Act/Healthcare Rising), Prop 211 (Voters Right to Know/Stop Dark Money), Prop 308 (in-state college tuition for Dreamers) and Prop 310 (TPT increase for fire districts).

It’s not an overstatement to say that the country is watching Arizona this fall. Arizonans were linchpins in the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol. Stop the Steal and the Maricopa County Fraudit have divided the Arizona Republican Party. We saw this in the Arizona Legislature during session. There are a few Oath Keepers, one fake elector and at least one insurrectionist currently serving in the Arizona House. Arizona moderates on both sides of the aisle lost in the July 2022 primary — including Speaker of the House Rusty Bowers, who testified in the Congressional Hearings on the January 6 Insurrection.

Trump-endorsed candidates for governor, secretary of state, attorney general, US Senate and some Legislative districts have extreme agendas on reproductive rights, voting rights, basic civil rights, school privatization and starving the government of the resources it needs to function.

You can see an authoritarian streak in six of the eight propositions referred to the ballot by the Arizona Legislature. Props 128, 129 and 132 severely limit the Citizens Initiative and our right to put items on the ballot for a vote. Prop 309 adds additional, unnecessary levels of voter identification for mail-in ballots and eliminates some forms of ID for in-person voting. Prop 130 tinkers with property taxes and opens the door for more property tax changes in the future. Prop 131 creates the position of lieutenant governor (who is chosen by the gubernatorial candidate, not by voters) in an attempt to cement a line of succession from lieutenant governor to governor for the party in power.

This is a crucial election for Arizona and the United States. Your votes for candidates and propositions are very important. Know the candidates and the facts before you vote. As for the candidates, I strongly support voting Democrat in all races. Not all of the Republicans are Trump-endorsed, but 100% of them favor restricting abortion, including eliminating abortion under the 1864 Arizona law. This is surreal in 2022.

If Republicans want to party like it’s 1864, Democrats and Independents must vote like it’s 2022. Vote like your rights depend upon it because they do. Stop the authoritarian theocracy from taking over our state government.

For more detailed information on the propositions, watch my YouTube videos of the Speed Dating the Ballot Propositions event (Part 1 and Part 2), hosted by The Arizona Ground Game and check out my blog post on PowersForThePeople.net.