Arizona Lieutenant Governor Amendment (2020)
| Arizona Lieutenant Governor Amendment | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 3, 2020 | |
| Topic State executive official measures | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin State legislature |
The Arizona Lieutenant Governor Amendment was not on the ballot in Arizona as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020.
The ballot measure would have created the position of lieutenant governor.[1] As of 2020, Arizona was one of five states that did not have a lieutenant governor.
The ballot measure would have required gubernatorial candidates to select a person as their running mate at least 100 days before the general election (unless the legislature selects a different date).
The ballot measure would have amended the gubernatorial line of succession, allowing the lieutenant governor to become governor should the governor's office become vacant. As of 2020, the secretary of state was the first in the line of succession to succeed the governor.
The first election in which gubernatorial candidates would select lieutenant governor running mates would have been November 8, 2022.
Text of measure
Constitutional changes
- See also: Article V, Arizona Constitution
The ballot measure would have amended Section 1, Section 6, and Section 9 of Article V of the Arizona Constitution.[2]
Full text
The full text is available here.
Background
Prior ballot measures
Voters in Arizona had twice rejected ballot measures to create the position of lieutenant governor. In 1994, 65.3 percent of voters rejected Proposition 100, which would have created the position of lieutenant governor and required the joint election of the governor and lieutenant governor. In 2010, 59.2 percent of voters rejected Proposition 111, which would have replaced the secretary of state with the lieutenant governor and required the joint election of the governor and lieutenant governor.
Prior elections
As of 2020, the Arizona Constitution stated that the secretary of state is first in the line of succession to the governor's office should the governor vacate the office. Between 1912—when Arizona became a state—and 2020, the secretary of state succeeded the governor due to a vacancy in the governor's office on six occasions. Twice—in 1988 and 2008—the successions caused a change in partisan control of the governor's office. The following is a list of successions:
- Gov. Sidney Osborn (D) died in office on May 25, 1948, and Secretary of State Dan Garvey (D) succeeded Osborn as governor.
- Gov. Raul Castro (D) resigned from office on October 20, 1977, and Secretary of State Wesley Bolin succeeded Castro as governor.
- Gov. Wesley Bolin (D) died in office on March 4, 1978, and Secretary of State Bruce Babbitt succeeded Bolin as governor.
- Gov. Evan Mecham (R) was impeached and removed from office on April 4, 1988, and Secretary of State Rose Mofford (D) succeeded Mecham as governor.
- Gov. Fife Symington (R) resigned from office on September 5, 1997, and Secretary of State Jane Hull (R) succeeded Symington as governor.
- Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) resigned from office on January 21, 2009, and Secretary of State Jan Brewer (R) succeeded Napolitano as governor.
Path to the ballot
Amending the Arizona Constitution
- See also: Amending the Arizona Constitution
In Arizona, a simple majority vote is needed in each chamber of the Arizona State Legislature to refer a constitutional amendment to the ballot for voter consideration.
House Concurrent Resolution 2020
The ballot measure was introduced into the Arizona State Legislature as House Concurrent Resolution 2020 (HCR 2020) during the 2020 legislative session. On March 5, 2020, the Arizona House of Representatives passed the constitutional amendment in a vote of 40-20.[3]
| Vote in the Arizona House of Representatives | |||
| Requirement: Simple majority vote of all members in each chamber | |||
Number of yes votes required: 31  | |||
| Yes | No | Not voting | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 40 | 20 | 0 |
| Total percent | 66.67% | 33.33% | 0.00% |
| Democrat | 12 | 17 | 0 |
| Republican | 28 | 3 | 0 |
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Arizona State Legislature, "House Concurrent Resolution 2020," accessed March 6, 2020
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedbill - ↑ Arizona State Legislature, "HCR 2020 Overview," accessed March 6, 2020
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