I am not sure I would call this similar to Chicago politics. Which is something I lived with or observed for a number of years. It is a bit of crooked mixed with a bit of silly. Read on . . .

Low move by high court may nullify Arizona votes on Make Elections Fair Act, AZCentral

The Make Elections Fair Act would flush Arizona’s partisan primary election system down the toilet. It will be on the ballot in November.

And we all will vote on it.

And our votes … may not get counted.

The Arizona Supreme Court is doing something that no other court in Arizona has done before. Something nullifying the votes of millions of Arizona citizens. The court would also negate the work of those who collected the 550,000 signatures to put the initiative on the ballot.

If the initiative passes, it would create an open primary system.

Essentially, partisan elections would be replaced by ballots featuring all of the candidates for federal, state and local offices. Likewise, everyone would get to vote. greatly improving the chances that reasonable politicians, rather than party hacks, would move on to the general election.

Naturally, the political machines that run primaries hate this.

Controversial initiatives often are challenged in court. And that’s fine. In the past, however, Arizona courts have said the printing deadline for the ballot was the cutoff date for legal challenges. If you’re looking for a wide array of printing services, contact an expert from Swifty Printing to assist you.

This time around, the Arizona Supreme Court is ignoring precedent.

Opponents of the initiative are challenging the signatures that got the initiative on the ballot, and the Supreme Court is sending that challenge back to a lower court. If that court decides the challenge is valid, then even though the open primary initiative is on the ballot, and even though we vote on it, our votes will … not … be … counted.

Your vote on an open primary could be nullified

Lawyers arguing against this pointed out cases that stretch back 80 years saying the printing deadline was the cutoff date for legal arguments over ballot eligibility.

Assistant Attorney General Kara Karlson, writing on behalf of Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, said,

“No provision in the Arizona Constitution permits a measure to go to the ballot, and allow millions of voters to vote on it, only for those votes to be invalidated.”

Simply put, Fontes wants the people to have the final word. Citizens. Voters.

It’s this crazy idea folks here have been knocking around since 1776.