This article was originally published in Arizona Mirror .
Votes will be counted for an open primaries ballot initiative that has been the subject of whiplash-inducing court challenge, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled just 31 days before the election.
The high court ruled on Friday , affirming the Sept. 19 decision of a trial court that backers of Proposition 140 had gathered enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot, and that even if they hadn’t, the court could not legally order election officials to disregard votes for it.
The ballot measure, known as the Make Arizona Elections Fair Act, would allow all registered voters to choose from all the candidates in the primary, regardless of their party affiliation, and the top vote-getters would advance to the general election, even if they don’t represent different parties.
The goal of the campaign is to eliminate extreme partisan influence in elections.
Opponents of the measure, including the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, challenged it in court, claiming that the campaign had gathered too many duplicate signatures, putting it beneath the threshold to make it on the ballot.