Secretary of State Adrian Fontes held a collection of occasions on Tuesday,
Nationwide Voter Registration Day, to encourage voter registration in
Arizona.

Throughout an occasion on the Phoenix Coding Academy, Fontes cited a 2016
Republican main for Arizona’s fifth Congressional District as a chief
instance of the significance of voting.

“The distinction within the variety of votes was 16 votes,” Fontes mentioned at
the occasion. “If simply 17 of you had voted the opposite manner, we’d have a
completely different particular person representing us in Congress.”

Now-Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, led Christine Jones by simply 16 votes. After a recount, Biggs gained by 27 votes.

Arizonans can register to vote at servicearizona.com.

The occasions got here after a not too long ago launched marketing campaign to amend the state Structure and rework Arizona’s main elections construction.

The proposed initiative, referred to as the Make Elections Truthful Act, seeks
to alter Arizona main elections to at least one single poll with all
operating candidates, reasonably than partisan ballots given based mostly on voters’
political affiliations.

The newest voter registration numbers from the Arizona Secretary of State’s workplace present that unbiased voters edged out Republicans in July to turn out to be the biggest single group of voters within the state.

Fontes mentioned in an interview the initiative is “a chance for Arizona residents to be their very own rulemakers.”

“In only a few states this exists. Arizona is fortunate, in 1912 we acquired one
of probably the most progressive state constitutions within the union that enables
for this kind of factor,” Fontes mentioned of the power of voters to place
initiatives on the poll.

Fontes mentioned the initiative language remains to be being drafted and is predicted to be launched someday subsequent week.

Reporter Renee Romo contributed to this story.