Arizona lawmakers want to juice up 2024 electorate. Is a super-sized ballot the solution?

Kaely Monahan, Arizona Republic
·1 min read

It’s the home stretch of the legislative session. Maybe.

Lawmakers are running out of bills to vote on, and budget talks are slogging along behind closed doors. The House is in the midst of a two-week break. But there is one exception to this very unhurried schedule: Ballot referrals.

These are proposed laws that go directly to the voters, avoiding the governor and her veto stamp. Others are amendments to the state Constitution, which require a vote of the people.

This month, two new referrals popped up like blooms on a saguaro cactus. One deals with the border; another would make changes to early voting. They’re not on the ballot, yet Republicans are divided on whether these are sound policies. So why are these measures showing up months into the legislative session?

This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, host Mary Jo Pitzl is joined by Paul Bentz, pollster for the political consulting firm HighGround. Together they discuss what might find its way onto the ballot this year and why Arizonans could expect a longer-than-normal ballot.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Why Trump, Biden rematch could mean longer election ballot in Arizona