In eight days, Arizona voters will go to the polls to decide their local, state and federal representation and a host of local and state ballot propositions.
For it’s worth, here are my voting suggestions for the state ballot propositions:
Proposition 106 would prohibit any laws that force Arizonans to purchase health insurance. This proposition is a ridiculous and knee-jerk reaction to the federal health care bill passed earlier this year derisively referred to as Obamacare. This change to the state constitution will be made moot in a couple of years either by the Supreme Court striking down the compulsory health insurance provision in the health care reform law or by the court upholding the Supremacy Clause and striking down this law and others like it passed in other states this year. The state Constitution should not be used to make symbolic gestures. This proposition is a waste of time. I suggest you VOTE NO.
Proposition 107 would eliminate all race and gender-based hiring preferences for public jobs, scholarships and contracts. There are still huge racial and gender disparities in this state that won’t be eliminated without government intervention. These hiring preferences help to right past wrongs and should continue. I suggest you VOTE NO.
Proposition 109 would make hunting and fishing a right in Arizona and give the Legislature sole control over wildlife management and policies. This measure is pointless and needlessly politicizes hunting, fishing and wildlife management. I suggest you VOTE NO.
Proposition 110 will make it easier to trade, sell or lease public lands to protect military installations. The military is essentially a federal jobs program and we need jobs. This measure will help keep Arizona’s military bases. I suggest you VOTE YES.
Proposition 111 converts the Secretary of State into a Lieutenant Governor and requires prospective governors and lieutenant governors to run on the same ticket. In the past 20 years we’ve had three accidental governors who were of a different party than the governor they replaced. This is a common sense change that is long overdue. I suggest you VOTE YES.
Proposition 112 extends the deadline for filing petitions for ballot initiatives from four months to six months. Makes sense. I suggest you VOTE YES.
Proposition 113 requires unions hold secret votes. This is more legislative symbolism that seeks to stick a thumb in the eye of the federal government in case a federal law is passed making it easier to unionize. It’s guaranteed to end up in the courts. Why bother? I suggest you VOTE NO.
Proposition 203 would legalize marijuana use, possession and cultivation for medicinal purposes. Marijuana is not a medicine. I suggest you VOTE NO.
Propositions 301 and 302 would gut the funding of the land conservation fund and Arizona Early Childhood Development Program or First Things First, as it’s known, to help balance the state budget. This is the Legislature trying to get voters to do its dirty work. Voters passed these programs and the funds to pay for them in 1998 and 2006. The Legislature wants the money because it’s too craven to pass a tax to balance the state budget. These are popular and successful programs and should remain funded. I suggest you VOTE NO on both.