Arizona ballot measures 2024: Voters to weigh in on abortion, immigration, minimum wage

Arizona Republic
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ARIZONA ELECTION 2024

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The 2024 elections in Arizona could mark a pivotal turning point.

Voters across Arizona will get a chance to weigh in on some of the most pressing issues facing the state: abortion access, immigration and minimum wage.

Dueling measures would change the Arizona Constitution to either eliminate or mandate partisan primary elections — if they both pass, the proposal that gets the most support will be the law of the land.

And the GOP-controlled state Legislature wants voters to weigh in on harsher penalties for child sex trafficking, tax refunds for property owners impacted by nuisance violations and tighter controls on the executive branch rulemaking and emergency powers.

Here are races that voters across the state will see on their ballots.

Proposition 133 — Partisan primaries | Proposition 134 — Ballot measure signatures | Proposition 135 — Governor's powers | Proposition 136 — Ballot measure constitutionality | Proposition 137 — judicial retention | Proposition 138 — Tipped workers | Proposition 139 — Abortion | Proposition 140 — Primaries | Proposition 311 — First responders' death benefit | Proposition 312 — Property tax refunds | Proposition 313 — Child sex trafficking | Proposition 314 — Border | Proposition 315 — State agency rules |

Proposition 133 — Requiring partisan primaries

What would Proposition 133 do?

  • Require that the direct primary election for any partisan office allow each political party that has qualified for representation on the ballot to nominate the same number of candidates for the office as the number of positions to be filled for that office in the next general election.

  • Require that each eligible candidate who is nominated by a political party that has qualified for representation on the ballot in a direct primary election be placed on the official ballot in the next general election.

  • Provide that the state direct primary election law supersedes any city charter, law, ordinance, rule, resolution or policy that is inconsistent with or contrary to the state direct primary election law.

Proposition 134 — Ballot measure signature requirements

What would Proposition 134 do?

  • Require proponents of initiatives for constitutional amendments to gather signatures from at least 15% of the qualified electors in each of the 30 legislative districts in this state.

  • Require proponents of initiatives for statutory amendments to gather signatures from at least 10% of the qualified electors in each of the 30 legislative districts in this state.

  • Require proponents of referendums to gather signatures from at least 5% of the qualified electors in each of the 30 legislative districts in this state.

Proposition 135 — Legislative oversight of governor's emergency powers

What would Proposition 135 do?

  • Specify that the emergency powers granted to the governor during the state of emergency (except for powers related to a state of war emergency or an emergency arising from a flood or fire) terminate 30 days after the date the state of emergency is proclaimed, unless the Legislature extends the governor's emergency powers.

  • Require the governor to call a special session to assemble the Legislature if at least one-third of the members of each house sign a petition requesting a special session for the purpose of terminating or altering the governor's emergency powers.

Proposition 136 — Ballot measure constitutionality

What would Proposition 136 do?

  • Allow a person to bring an action in Superior Court to contest the constitutionality of a statutory initiative measure or a constitutional amendment proposed under the power of initiative at least 100 days before the date of the election at which the measure or amendment will be voted on.

  • If a court finds that the proposed statutory initiative measure or proposed constitutional amendment violates the U.S. Constitution or Arizona Constitution, the secretary of state or other officer shall not certify or print the measure or amendment on the official ballot.

Proposition 137 — Eliminating automatic judicial rentention elections

What would Proposition 137 do?

  • Judges and justices appointed through the merit selection process would no longer be subject to a set four-year or six-year term of office and an automatic retention vote.

  • Judges and justices who have not reached the mandatory retirement age would hold office during good behavior and could only be removed from office through the procedures set out in Article VI.I or VIII or pursuant to a retention election:

    • Is convicted of a felony offense.

    • Is convicted of a crime involving fraud or dishonesty.

    • Initiates a personal bankruptcy proceeding in which the justice or judge is a debtor.

    • Is a mortgagor of a mortgage that is foreclosed.

    • Is determined to not meet judicial performance standards by a majority of the Commission on Judicial Performance Review.

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Proposition 138 — Tipped Workers Protection Act

What would Proposition 138 do?

  • Allow an employer, for any employee who customarily and regularly receives tips or gratuities, to pay up to 25% per hour less than the minimum wage, if the employer can establish that the employee is paid at least the minimum wage plus $2 per hour for all hours worked.

Latest coverage

Proposition 139 — Arizona Abortion Access Act

What would Proposition 139 do?

  • Create a fundamental right to abortion under the Arizona Constitution.

  • The state will not be able to interfere with this fundamental right before fetal viability unless it has a compelling reason and does so in the least restrictive way possible.

  • Fetal viability means the point in the pregnancy when, in the good-faith judgment of a treating health care professional, the fetus has a significant likelihood of survival outside the uterus.

  • Throughout the pregnancy, both before and after fetal viability, the state will not be able to interfere with the good-faith judgment of a treating health care professional that an abortion is necessary to protect the life or health of the pregnant individual.

  • The state will not be able to penalize any person for aiding or assisting a pregnant individual in exercising the right to an abortion.

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Proposition 140 — Make Elections Fair Arizona Act

What would Proposition 140 do?

  • Allow all eligible voters to vote for any primary election candidate, regardless of party affiliation.

  • Impose the same signature requirements on all candidates for a given office who wish to appear on the primary ballot.

  • Generally prohibit the use of public funds for political party elections.

  • Allow future law to determine how many candidates advance from the primary election, as well as the process by which candidates are elected at the general election.

  • If future law provides that three or more candidates may advance to the general election for an office to which one candidate will be elected, voter rankings shall be used.

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Proposition 311 — First responders' death benefit

What would Proposition 311 do?

  • Establish a new state death benefit of $250,000 to the surviving spouse or children of a first responder who is killed in the line of duty as the result of another person's criminal act.

  • Establish a $20 penalty fee on every criminal conviction to provide funding for the new state death benefit.

Proposition 312 — Nuisance enforcement, property tax refunds

What would Proposition 312 do?

  • Allow a property owner to apply for a refund once per tax year of the documented, reasonable expenses incurred to mitigate the effects of a city, town or county:

    • Maintaining a public nuisance on the property owner's real property or

    • Adopting and following a policy, pattern or practice that declines to enforce existing laws prohibiting illegal camping, obstructing a public thoroughfare, loitering, panhandling, urinating or defecating in public, consuming alcoholic beverages in public or possessing or using illegal substances

  • Set the refund amount as the documented, reasonable expenses that the property owner incurred to mitigate the effects of the policy, pattern or practice or the public nuisance on their real property.

  • Require the state treasurer to withhold the refund amount from monies otherwise due to the appropriate city, town or county.

Proposition 313 — Child sex trafficking

What would Proposition 313 do?

Require a person who is convicted of a class 2 felony for any child sex trafficking offense to serve a prison sentence for the remainder of the person's natural life and make the person ineligible for any form of release.

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Proposition 314 — Secure the Border Act

What would Proposition 314 do?

  • Create a new state crime that prohibits a natural person who is not lawfully present in the U.S. from knowingly submitting false documentation when applying for a federal, state or local public benefit.

  • Create a new state crime that prohibits a natural person who is not lawfully present in the U.S. from knowingly submitting false information or documents to an employer to evade detection of employment eligibility under the E-Verify program.

  • Create a new state crime that prohibits a person who is at least 18 years of age from knowingly selling fentanyl in violation of the current drug laws if the person knows the drug sold contains fentanyl and the fentanyl causes the death of another person.

  • Create a new state crime that prohibits a person who is an alien from entering or attempting to enter this state directly from a foreign nation at any location that is not a lawful port of entry.

Latest coverage

Proposition 315 — State agency rule oversight

What would Proposition 315 do?

  • Require a state agency to submit to the Office of Economic Opportunity for review a proposed rule that is estimated to increase regulatory costs in Arizona by more than $100,000 within five years after implementation.

  • If OEO finds that the proposed rule is estimated to increase regulatory costs in Arizona by more than $500,000 within five years after implementation, the proposed rule would not become effective until legislation is enacted to ratify the proposed rule.

See all the races for Arizona

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Arizona election

Voter guide: Election Day is Nov. 5. Here is a guide to help you learn about all the candidates and the voting and tabulating process.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona ballot measures 2024: What's on your ballot?

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