Do voters have confidence in our election system? What is their level of support for election integrity and election reform measures? To better understand these voter attitudes, the Center for an Independent and Sustainable Democracy (CISD) at Arizona State University interviewed 1,063 Arizona registered voters proportionally divided among Republicans, Democrats, and independents and reflecting the state’s ethnic, education and age makeup.
Executive Summary
Despite heated and polarizing rhetoric from both ends of the political spectrum, the study found broad areas of agreement:
There was broad support for a range of measures to ensure election integrity such as public testing of voting machines, stricter requirements for voter identification, and auditing of election results.
Similarly, there was wide support for voting by mail, having top election officials selected in a nonpartisan manner and requiring the same signature requirements for candidates seeking office regardless of party affiliation.
There was overwhelming support across all categories for a system where top state and local election officials would be required to take an oath to function in a nonpartisan manner.
Taken as a whole, the questions around top election officials suggest that the public is looking for nonpartisan supervision of Arizona’s elections, rather than party-affiliated officials.
A nonpartisan primary system was supported by 80 percent of voters, including a majority of Democrats, Republicans, and independents.
However, ranked choice voting was supported by a slim majority of respondents, led by Democrats and non-voting independents. Republicans who voted in 2022 were highly opposed to this measure, with non-voting Republicans split on the idea.
Arizona voters have low levels of trust in all sources of information about elections. Remarkably, no institutions were trusted by a majority of those asked.
This study of Arizona voters found there is a good deal of common ground regarding our election system and voters are more aligned in their views than partisan politics would suggest.
These findings provide a roadmap on how a nonpartisan election system could further enhance voter confidence in Arizona. It also underscores the importance and support for election security measures as well as the need for reforms that protect the core principle in the US of the fundamental right to right to vote without partisan interference.
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