Voters of Arizona
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| Voters of Arizona | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Location: | Phoenix, Ariz. |
| Type: | Political action committee |
| Top official: | Grant Woods, Chairman |
| Founder(s): | •Grant Woods •Paul Johnson |
| Year founded: | 2017 |
| Website: | Official website |
Voters of Arizona was a political action committee based in Phoenix, Arizona. The group attempted to repeal Arizona House Bill 2404 and Arizona House Bill 2244 through veto referendums in November 2018.[1]
Background
Voters of Arizona was formed as a political action committee in May 2017 by former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods (R) and former Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson (D). The group aimed to circulate petitions and gather at least 75,321 valid signatures by August 2017 to initiate veto referendums in order to prevent Arizona House Bill 2404 and Arizona House Bill 2244 from taking effect. The group claimed that the two bills suppress, rather than remedy, the citizen initiative process in Arizona.[2][3]
- Arizona House Bill 2404 was designed to prohibit paying circulators according to the number of signatures collected; make paying circulators on a per-signature basis a class 1 misdemeanor; and increase the number of days that legal challenges to the registration of circulators can commence from five days to ten business days after signatures are filed.
- Arizona House Bill 2244 was designed to require strict scrutiny of initiative petitions and strict compliance with all rules surrounding the process. It was written to allow petition signatures to be rejected based on technical deficiencies. The bill was approved by the Arizona State Senate on April 12, 2017, and it was approved by the Arizona House of Representatives and transmitted to the governor on April 13, 2017.
If the petition drive had been successful, the laws would have gone before Arizona voters as veto referendums on the November 2018 ballot.
Political activity
Ballot measure activity
Voters of Arizona supported petition drives to oppose the implementation of Arizona House Bill 2404 and Arizona House Bill 2244.
"It's about respecting the average person's right to be involved in important policy decisions," Woods told the Phoenix New Times. "It's really been part and parcel to Arizona from day one — that the power ultimately went to the people, not to the government."[4]
Overview of ballot measure support and opposition
The following table details Voters of Arizona's ballot measure stances available on Ballotpedia:
| Ballot measure support and opposition for Voters of Arizona | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ballot measure | Year | Position | Status |
| Arizona Payment of Petition Circulators Referendum, Petition R-03 (2018) | 2018 | Supported[5] | Not on the ballot |
| Arizona Strict Compliance Initiative Process Referendum (2018) | 2018 | Supported[5] | Not on the ballot |
Leadership
As of May 2017, the following individuals held leadership positions with Voters of Arizona:[1]
- Joel Grant Woods, Chairman
- Paul Johnson, Treasurer
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Voters of Arizona. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Changes in 2017 to laws governing ballot measures
- Arizona Payment of Petition Circulators Referendum, Petition R-01 (2018)
- Arizona Strict Compliance Initiative Process Referendum (2018)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Arizona Secretary of State, "Advanced Search—Voters of Arizona," accessed May 23, 2017
- ↑ The Daily Courier, "Woods, Johnson file paperwork to create ‘Voters of Arizona,'" May 5, 2017
- ↑ Voters of Arizona, "Home," accessed May 23, 2017
- ↑ Phoenix New Times, "Initiative Begun to Save Citizens' Initiatives from Arizona GOP's New Laws," May 5, 2017
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Voters of Arizona, "Frequently Asked Questions," accessed May 23, 2017
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