Retaining a bill is the equivalent of a surgeon’s lament: The operation was a success but the patient died.
Sen. Ken Cheuvront, D-15, the surgeon in this case, persuaded his colleagues in the Committee of the Whole to approve an amendment that would have given independent voters more flexibility to vote in Arizona’s Presidential Primary elections.
But within minutes, a procedural maneuver had excised the amendment and left the skeleton of the original bill.
The Senate voted 16-8 on March 3 to approve the amendment that would have allowed independents to vote for either Democratic or Republican presidential candidates without first having to register with either party. But the vote was essentially meaningless because the bill was retained, meaning the Senate has the option to bring the bill back for a vote in the Committee of the Whole.
The original bill, sponsored by Chuck Gray, R-19, aims to change the times allowed for requesting early ballots.
Gray argued Cheuvront’s amendment should have been vetted in committee. He said it would increase the cost of elections at a time when the state is facing a budget deficit.
The amendment also would have given political parties the option to exclude independents from voting in their presidential primary.
The issue had split the Republican leadership. Senate President Tim Bee backed it; his deputy, Senate Majority Leader Thayer Verschoor, vigorously opposed it.
Supporters said the amendment would end the disenfranchisement of a large number of Arizona voters. Right now, voters must register with a party to be able to cast a ballot in that party's presidential primary.
But opponents argued parties should be allowed to limit voting for a presidential nominee to their own members. Also, they said any independent who wants to vote in a party’s primary could simply re-register as a party member. Anyone is welcome to change party registration, they said.
Sen. Richard Miranda, D-13, said anything lawmakers can do to increase voter turnout is valid.
But Verschoor said the assertion that people are not allowed to vote in the state’s presidential primary is not exactly true. They may re-register as a Republican or a Democrat to vote in that primary, then afterward, re-register as an independent, he said.
Sen. Robert Blendu of Litchfield Park said people just don’t care enough to take time to re-register.
If it’s too much trouble to re-register, “I can’t help it,” Blendu said.
“I care enough to change my registration from one party to another because I thought that was more in line with what I stood for at that particular point in time,” he said. “If that changes in the future, I will do it again.”
The GOP has 1,042,294 registered voters compared to 904,741 Democrats, according to the Arizona Secretary of State.
More than 748,000 Arizonans, or roughly 27 percent of the state’s voters, are categorized as “other.” ?