Arizona voters have an option to restructure the state’s election process if they choose to support a state constitutional amendment on Tuesday, Nov. 6.

Proposition 121, a citizen-initiated amendment known as the Open Elections/Open Government Act, would give all voters, regardless of their party registration, the ability to vote on all the candidates in the primary election. The top two vote getters, regardless of party, would then face off in the general election.

The current state-level election process in Arizona is similar to the federal process: Partisan candidates run against each other until the primary election, when the parties’ registered voters choose their best single nominees, who then face each other in the general election. Currently, five parties are recognized in Arizona: Americans Elect, Democratic, Green, Libertarian and Republican.

Independent candidates and those from unrecognized parties do not run in primaries, but instead face off against partisan candidates in the general election.

On July 5, the initiative’s organizers announced volunteers collected and turned in 365,486 signatures from around Arizona, 106,273 more than the minimum 259,213 required to get the measure on the ballot, setting a state record for the most signatures submitted for a proposed constitutional amendment.

For the full story, see the Wednesday, Oct. 31, edition of The Camp Verde Journal or the Cottonwood Journal Extra.