Tucson will ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for a rehearing on a ruling that the city's election system is unconstitutional.

The Arizona Capitol Times recently reported the same people behind the failed jungle primary initiative in 2012 plan on taking another run at it in 2016. Only this time jungle primary supporters intend to team up with another group of liberals pushing an aggressive regulatory agenda designed to relieve Arizonans of our free speech rights—all under the guise of eliminating so-called dark money.

A study by Arizona State University’s Morrison Institute of Public Policy showed that registered independents, who last year became the largest bloc of voters in the state, overwhelmingly view themselves as moderates, are issue-driven and, perhaps most importantly, don’t exercise the political muscle they have in elections.

When passions ran high over the controversy surrounding Arizona’s decennial redistricting process in 2011, the air was laden with talk of reforms. But in the four years since the controversy erupted, the Legislature has made no move to ask voters for reforms.

In an often strongly worded opinion, the majority of the three-judge panel said the system of partisan nomination by wards but electing at large unconstitutionally denies residents equal rights. And the losers in that system, according to the court, are Republicans.

Secretary of State Michele Reagan is unlikely to sue over a new political committee rule passed by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission, but a top aide said he expects someone from the business community to go to court.

Arizona's voter registration numbers are up by more than 47,000 since the last report in July.

Preliminary election results show school bond and budget override proposals across the state were faring better than they usually do with voters.

The Citizens Clean Elections Commission temporarily delayed its vote on a proposed rule that will clarify what constitutes a political committee under Arizona’s campaign finance statutes and possibly require disclosure from some dark money organizations due to last-minute changes that threw the commission’s meeting into confusion.

With more than a year until the election, congressional candidates in Arizona have already spent $5.5 million on their campaigns – for everything from consultants to coffee mugs, according to the latest Federal Election Commission filings.