Arizona's 2026 Ballot Propositions

Ballot measures reach the voters in two different ways: through legislative referrals, which pass by a simple majority in both the Arizona House and Senate; or through citizens' signature campaigns. A measure can be either statutory (a simple law) or a constitutional amendment. In addition, voters can collect signatures for a referendum — a popular vote on a law just passed by the legislature.

The state legislature has advanced ten legislative referrals to our November ballots. Of these, 5 are constitutional amendments and 5 are statutory measures. One citizens' initiative (Protect Education, Accountability Now) collected enough signatures to reach the legal threshold, and is a statutory measure. However — and it's a big HOWEVER — all of the measures are subject to legal challenge. As of this writing, 5 of the 10 ballot referrals are being challenged in court; one measure, Prop 318, has already been ruled eligible. The citizens' initiative must also undergo validation by the Secretary of State and then signature verification by counties, as well as survive lawsuits from school voucher backers trying to kick it off the ballot. This will all take place before ballots are released to the printer in late August.

One of the most powerful ways we can advocate for or against ballot measures is to write an argument to be printed in the Voter Pamphlet that goes to all registered voters. CEBV has written arguments for 10 of the 11 measures; we're delighted to allow you to preview them here. If you'd like to read the language that will appear on your ballot, you can find it here.

Prop 141 - A Constitutional Amendment

Prop 141 is a ludicrous, conspiracy-fueled waste of our time — but it would have real-world consequences. 

Based on an absurd myth from fringe extremists, this legislative referral would prevent Arizona's ever-increasing number of electric vehicle owners from paying their fair share of the actual costs of road construction and repair. 

Anyone who drives a gas-fueled vehicle pays 18 cents in tax on every gallon of gas. Meanwhile, plug-in EVs are getting a free pass, because they don't pay gas taxes. One strategy for leveling the playing field would ask them to contribute based on miles traveled. Prop 141 would change our state Constitution to keep that from ever happening. 

Years of deferred maintenance are taking a toll on Arizona's roads. Arizona has the third-worst maintained highways in the nation, with only 35% of our pavement in good condition. Meanwhile, Arizona’s gas tax doesn't account for inflation and hasn't gone up in decades. Its buying power is now roughly half what it used to be. 

How are we going to fix our roads? The same far-right conspiracy theorists who think the government wants to keep Americans from traveling freely are trying to cement their nonsense into the state Constitution. They've allowed our state's road maintenance to spiral into a crisis, and now they want to make it worse by fooling us into passing Prop 141? No thanks. 

Voters have better things to do than deal with this type of clutter on our ballots. We hope lawmakers will work harder in the future to find more substantive projects that benefit the Arizona voters they purport to serve. We urge you to vote NO. 

Prop 142 - A Constitutional Amendment

MEAN-SPIRITED AND MISGUIDED, ATTACKS TRUTH AND FAIRNESS

This blanket ban on every conceivable type of human difference is corrosive and harmful. We urge Arizonans to vote NO. 

Our Republican-run legislature referred Prop 142 to the ballot because it couldn’t pass muster as a bill. It would amend the Arizona Constitution, which means its wording should be careful and precise — it definitely is not. Embedding racism in our state’s foundational document will have serious, wide-ranging consequences, causing grave injustices that would be difficult to reverse.

Some politicians would have us believe human differences should be hidden, not welcomed or celebrated. Those who put this ill-intended prohibition on our ballots ignore that it would block teachers from discussing truthful history and accurate science. They refuse to acknowledge that race and ethnicity data is essential to meaningful research or medical results. They especially hope we ignore the provision that would let them ban any “related practice or concept,” giving them a free pass to create catch-all discrimination and injustice. 

By joining together across races, backgrounds, abilities and genders, Americans have historically defeated the powerful few who tried to exclude Black children from schools, women from voting booths, working people from unions, disabled people from the workplace, and gay and transgender people from public life. Now it’s our turn to take on those who seek to take us backward. To realize the American dream, we can make this a place of liberty and justice for all – no exceptions.

There is no way to spin this outright rejection of human difference as somehow beneficial to Arizona or the people who live here. We must welcome the diversity that makes our nation great, the equity that gives all a shot at the American dream, and the inclusion that assures everyone a seat at the table.

Prop 143 - Removed from the ballot

Prop 143, formerly SCR1040, was removed from the ballot by order of the Maricopa County Superior Court. The measure would have attacked the ability of unions to organize in Arizona. A spokesperson for Arizona Republicans said the ruling would not be appealed.

Proposition 144 - A Constitutional Amendment

Whether we live in a bustling city, quiet suburb, or one of Arizona’s beautiful remote areas, every single qualified voter should be able to cast a ballot, by mail or in person, in accordance with established law. If you want to keep it that way, vote NO on Prop 144. 

This legislative referral creates obstacles that would limit our access to the ballot. It authorizes legislators to create a new process for voting by mail, and would even allow the legislature to ban mail-in voting altogether. This means we would be authorizing them to restrict our voting rights in the future. If you're thinking, "They won't do that," consider: the author of this measure freely admits that he designed Prop 144 to eliminate mail-in voting. 

Arizona’s current mail-in voting system is a model for the rest of the nation. It helps busy voters participate in the democratic process. It's popular with seniors, disabled people, rural residents, and conscientious voters who want to research the important issues on their ballots. It helps families who want to discuss the ballot as they go, and people who don’t want to stand in line (who does?).

What are our Republican state lawmakers, who unanimously approved this measure, afraid of? Why are they so determined to keep us from voting? Could it be that gaining and keeping power is more important to them than allowing us, Arizonans, to choose our leaders?

In America, most of us believe voters should pick our leaders, but some corrupt politicians want to control our elections and seize even more power. Most Americans want every voter to vote and every vote cast to be counted. We will decide our future, choose our leaders, and ensure the will of the people prevails. Hands Off Our Vote: NO on Prop 144. 

Prop 145 - A Constitutional Amendment

Arizona voters have pro-voucher special interests to thank for deceptive Prop 145, which Republican lawmakers voted through in the literal middle of the night. Don't be fooled: Prop 145 seeks to trick us into invalidating the Protect Education citizen's initiative if both pass at the ballot.

They're not telling you that Prop 145 would fully invalidate any competing law or citizen's initiative. In fact, the bill's sponsor admits this was his intent. Though backers claim this is about "military families," a clause buried in subsection B would void all constraints on Arizona’s ESA voucher program — as well as any future attempts at reform. 

Arizonans overwhelmingly want sensible financial, safety and academic guardrails for the $1.1-billion-a-year ESA voucher program. Since the legislature universally expanded the program in 2022, opening something designed for special-needs kids to all, regardless of family income or need, it has become a mismanaged monster, draining away critical funding for public schools and other urgent state needs. It’s a disgrace to see our tax dollars misused this way. 

This system desperately needs oversight, but Prop 145 would block reform. Are kids learning at voucher-funded private schools, microschools and homeschools? Without testing, we can't know. Are the facilities safe, or are sex predators working with our children? With no fingerprinting or site safety regulations, it's anyone's guess. Are fly-by-night crooks and profiteers pocketing our tax dollars? We know only what we've heard in news reports about fraudulent "ghost children" and abrupt strip-mall school closures. 

It’s time to open the book on vouchers in Arizona — yet voucher backers are terrified of even the barest scrutiny. Those who voted this misleading constitutional amendment onto our ballots will stop at nothing to kill reform, including trying to fool us into greenlighting their shady scheme. We urge a resounding NO.

Prop 212 - A Statutory Measure

Prop 212 provides desperately needed guardrails for Arizona’s unaccountable ESA voucher program. We urge Arizonans to vote YES.

Shortly after lawmakers expanded the ESA voucher program to all students in 2022, appalling stories of fraud and abuse started rolling in. They couldn't have designed a better grift if they'd tried. Nonexistent “ghost children” raked in ESA funds. Families bought grand pianos, ski vacations, Disneyland trips, expensive bicycles, lingerie, and other excesses. Wealthy families whose children were already attending private schools rushed to grab their free handouts. While the rest of us paid out of pocket for our kids' college, ESA voucher families stockpiled their K-12 funds for postsecondary expenses. The program ballooned to consume over $1 billion a year from our already strained state budget. 

 We only know these details because of reporting by persistent journalists, since the program doesn't mandate public disclosure of how our tax dollars are put to use. Recently, reporters’ public records requests have uncovered a shocking 20% fraud rate in ESA expenditures.

 By contrast, public school budgets are an open book subject to scrutiny by all. The Auditor General analyzes their spending yearly. We know how our tax dollars are used down to the dime. 

Prop 212 will add sensible guardrails for ESA vouchers: modest student and site safety regulations, academic testing, and an income eligibility cap that's more than double Arizona's median income. Lawmakers should be ashamed that, with this citizens’ initiative, the voters are doing their job for them and insisting on these basic standards. 

Not since the alt-fuels scandal in 1999 have our state lawmakers created an entitlement program with such glaring flaws. Prop 212 will add desperately needed oversight. We strongly urge Arizonans to vote YES.

Prop 316 - A Statutory Measure

Disguised as tax relief, Prop 316 was designed by the legislature to handcuff cities and towns by restricting the revenue they need to function. Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a similar bill in 2023 that would have cost 65 Arizona cities over $150 million a year, blowing holes in local budgets and forcing them to slash services and raise property taxes.

When state legislators cut taxes to the bone, counties and cities have to make up the difference in order to fund essential services like firefighters, police, libraries, parks, street maintenance, and the hundreds of unnoticed benefits that make daily life possible. Mayors who have spoken up against Prop 316 say the loss of revenue it will cause will devastate their communities. For example, food tax revenue makes up more than 30% of the budget in the small town of Taylor. City officials have said a 3% food tax is a lot more equitable than adding a new property tax and concentrating that tax on homeowners. 

Taxes are the price we pay for civilization. They fund the benefits and necessities our cities and towns use to function. A 6-cent surcharge on a $3 gallon of milk is a small price to pay for this. The legislature should work on putting its own house in order, and let cities and towns manage theirs. We strongly urge a NO vote.

Proposition 317 - A Statutory Measure

We did not write a ballot pamphlet argument for Prop 317, but we strongly recommend a NO vote.

This measure takes the empty, performative step of declaring that drug cartels are terrorist organizations. It is critical that we understand this for what it is: not a contribution to public safety, but a messaging move in line with efforts by the current federal administration to frame desperate migration as "invasion" by "animals" and to convince voters that terrorists are massing at our southern border. Prop 317 will connect cartels to terrorism in the public’s imagination, helping supercharge the dangerous militarization of the border while doing nothing to solve the actual problem of drug trafficking.

The broad, sloppy sweep of Prop 317 could carry unintended consequences for victims of human trafficking. The Brennan Center for Justice warns of the danger to large numbers of people with no connection to drug trafficking or terrorism, such as churches, synagogues, food banks and health clinics. Any organization that aids a migrant who was smuggled across the border could be vulnerable to prosecution or freezing of assets. Gang intervention groups that work to rehabilitate gang-involved individuals by providing employment, financial education, counseling, recreation and other support services may be targeted too.

Federal law enforcement already has ample methods to address drug trafficking, including a host of laws that allow officials to target production and distribution, impose severe sanctions, and levy criminal and civil penalties. Research also demonstrates that the most effective way to tackle drug use is to reduce demand at home, including via addiction treatment.

Proposition 318 - A Statutory Measure

ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL BAN IS A BADLY WRITTEN MESS

Fairness in sports is important, but fairness in the treatment of our fellow humans is more so. The American dream calls all people, regardless of race, gender, or background, to be themselves and realize their dreams. To ostracize and ban young people outright from their chosen teams is to endorse harassment, bullying and worse. This shameful mess of a ballot measure is an attempt to divide us, plain and simple. 

Prop 318 lumps kindergarteners and college athletes into the same one-size-fits-all category, forcing the same rules on toddlers and college track stars. In 2022, a Utah school spied on and secretly investigated a high school athlete's gender because she won a sports competition “by a wide margin.” That's a witch hunt. It's humiliating and absurd. Arizona must not endorse this type of intolerance. 

Prop 318 is careless and broad, which means unintended real-world consequences for our kids. Girls with stocky builds or short hair could be required to “prove” they are girls. Children could be needlessly examined and shamed. It’s toxic to insist that girls display specific body types or appearances just to play healthy sports. 

What problem is this vindictive and mean-spirited measure trying to solve? Don’t Republican lawmakers have better issues to tackle than persecuting children who just want to play with their friends? The crafty politicians who are picking our pockets seek to distract from their agenda by convincing us to pick on a tiny group of kids. This measure belongs in the Hall of Shame, along with all other attacks on our rights and freedoms. 

Prop 319 - A Statutory Measure

One of the most important functions of state government is to ensure the health and safety of Arizonans. While we’re never happy to get a ticket, photo radar cameras are proven, time-tested ways to calm traffic and prevent serious injury and death. That makes this legislative referral an attack on public safety, plain and simple. 

If you know anyone who has suffered serious injuries because of a speeding car (we do), or been killed by a careless driver (we do), you will vote NO. If you haven’t had the tragic experience of losing someone to a preventable traffic accident, we hope you’ll vote NO to protect your loved ones from that fate. 

Arguably, intersections are the most dangerous parts of a roadway — but red-light cameras at intersections reduce fatal crashes by 21% (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety), mostly by improving driver attentiveness. Other studies show reductions of up to 29%. The jury is in: speeding up to get through a red light causes serious crashes and fatalities that are preventable. Prop 319 would remove one of our best tools for preventing them.

With regard to traffic cameras, one recent study in Philadelphia estimated that monitoring a particularly dangerous roadway prevented up to 20 crashes per month and 1.4 monthly deaths. In Arlington County, Virginia, speed cameras near elementary schools resulted in significant declines in accidents. 

The intent of traffic cameras is to prevent serious accidents, not to generate expensive tickets. When we see an upcoming camera on the roadway, we slow down. When we know a red light camera is ahead, we actually stop instead of trying to beat it. People we know and love would likely still be alive if Arizona adhered to proven safety standards. Please vote NO.

Prop 320 - A Statutory Measure

A PUNITIVE, MISGUIDED MEASURE DESIGNED TO MAKE SCHOOLS FAIL

Prop 320 is an underhanded legislative referral that seeks to fool voters into forcing our public schools to fail. 

Its rigid, punitive constraints were cleverly crafted to split public school funding into unsustainable buckets, crippling schools’ ability to function. It’s time for the special-interest lobbyists and voucher backers attacking our schools and teachers to back off. We strongly urge a NO vote.

Prop 320's inflexible, arbitrary 60% threshold for “direct instructional expenses” includes only teachers, some aides, instructional supplies, field trips and athletics. Schools that can't comply would be defunded. This narrow definition leaves out all the other components that make a kid’s school day work. Imagine a school without custodians, counselors, librarians, teacher training, technology, building maintenance and repair, groundskeeping, security, accounting and payroll, air conditioning, insurance, food service, buses, clerical staff, security, lighting, or the extra services students with special needs require. How would it function? Would that help our kids learn? 

Proponents' noise about "administrative spending" is grossly deceptive. In reality, Arizona's district schools spend among the least on administration nationwide. Arizona's average for-profit charter school spends 22% on administration — double what public district schools do — but this measure doesn't include them. That's by design: Prop 320 was crafted by special interests who are trying to discredit district schools so they can divert our education tax dollars into the pockets of profiteers. 

Arizona's public district schools are struggling with the inefficiencies of Republican lawmakers' choice to bankroll three separate school systems: public district, public charter, and private ESA voucher-funded, which cost the state significantly more per student than either of the other options. That's not students' fault. Those who seek to profit off our kids, instead of keeping their education a nonprofit good, do not have their best interests at heart. Please vote NO.