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Arizona: Stop Prop 105 from Taking Away Citizens' Rights! On the AZ Ballot in November of 2008

Just one year after Arizona animal advocates successfully secured the passage of a ballot initiative ensuring the humane treatment of mother pigs (sows for breeding) and calves (for veal) on factory farms, agribusiness is attempting to squelch future humane measures with Prop 105, aimed at limiting the efficacy of citizen ballot initiatives. Deceptively titled the “Majority Rules” initiative, Prop 105 will compromise the democratic process by automatically assigning a “no” vote to every registered voter who doesn’t vote in that election—making it extraordinarily hard for any initiative to ever pass.

Given the relatively high percentage of registered voters who do not vote each election—either because they are unable to vote or are simply choosing not to vote—the passage of Prop 105 would drastically skew the voting results by assigning these non-voters a “No” vote. By assuming that non-voters oppose an issue, Prop 105 fails to reflect the actual will of the voters. 

Arizona is one of a handful of states fortunate enough to have the citizen ballot initiative process. Ballot initiatives allow citizens to put an issue to a direct vote before the people and are invaluable regarding issues about which legislators are typically unresponsive—including animal welfare.

If passed, Prop 105 would virtually destroy the ability of citizens to pass any initiative—whether it be for animal welfare, the environment, education, or any other issue of public concern.

Had Prop 105 been in place, scores of citizen ballot initiatives, including the historic ban on gestation crates and veal crates, which overwhelmingly passed in recent elections, could have failed. If it becomes law, it will essentially render the citizen ballot initiative process meaningless and ineffective in Arizona.

What you can do:

Vote No on Prop 105, and be sure to educate all of your friends and family in Arizona about this insidious measure aimed at taking away a critical tool of democracy.  Find out more information here.

Brief points regarding Prop 105:

• Prop 105 Makes Elections Unfair

• Prop 105 is misleading and encourages voter apathy.  It says that those people who don’t bother to get off their couch to vote get counted as automatic NO votes. It’s just wrong to count people who don’t vote and that’s unfair.

• If you choose to exercise your right NOT to vote, Prop 105 will automatically choose a NO vote for you and that’s not fair!

• If Prop 105 passed it would give an automatic NO vote to those who are deceased, yet still on the voter rolls; is this fair?

• If Prop 105 was already in place, a number of initiatives that passed overwhelmingly would not have become law.

• Prop 105 is not about your taxes; it is about protecting the act of voting. A true majority is when your voice is heard because you choose to vote, not because others decided NOT to go to the polls on Election Day.