Vote NO on all statewide propositions
Why you should vote NO on all 8 statewide propositions
(Propositions 141, 142, 144, 316, 317, 318, 319 & 320)
From the Equality Arizona Newsletter – October 8, 2026
(lightly edited by AZ.DemVoterGuide.org, mostly by adding bold for emphasis)
Eight Propositions, Eight No Votes: A Guide to the 2026 Ballot Measures
Arizona voters will decide eight statewide propositions this November. Equality Arizona recommends a NO vote on all eight, and three of them, Props. 142, 144, and 318, are high priorities for our community because a YES vote would set back civil rights, voting access, and the safety of transgender students.
This article walks through each measure: what a YES vote does, why we’re opposed, and what to keep in mind as you fill out your ballot. Along the way we draw on notes from Dr. Brian Dille, who joined us on Margin of Victory, our podcast (see link below), this month to break down the propositions. Where we borrow from his analysis, we say so.
First, a few things worth knowing about propositions:
The number tells you what you’re voting on. Props. in the 100s amend the Arizona Constitution. Props. in the 300s are changes to state law referred by the Legislature. (Props. in the 200s would be citizen initiatives, and there are none this year.)
Every measure on this year’s ballot came from the [Republican-majority] Legislature. As Dr. Dille noted, no citizen initiative survived the signature process in 2026. All eight propositions are legislative referrals, which raises an obvious question: if [Republican] lawmakers already have the votes to pass something, why send it to the ballot instead?
Here’s why they did that: Because a ballot measure is close to permanent. Under Arizona’s Voter Protection Act, the Legislature can’t repeal or amend a voter-approved measure without a three-fourths supermajority in both chambers, and the Governor has no veto over ballot measures at all. A referral, in other words, locks in the current majority’s preferences against a future Legislature or Governor, and it lets a lawmaker vote for something controversial while saying “I’m just letting the voters decide.” Dr. Dille’s advice, which we think is sound: picture your vote being carved into stone, and let the default be NO unless the YES side makes a compelling case.
Two of the measures below, Props. 316 and 317, are bills Governor Hobbs already vetoed. They’re back on the ballot because the ballot is the one route around her veto pen.
Props that would amend the Arizona Constitution:
Prop. 141 — Vote NO
What a YES vote does: Prohibits any tax or fee based on vehicle miles traveled and bars laws that monitor or limit mileage without consent.
Why we’re opposed: There is no mileage tax proposal anywhere in Arizona today. What there is, as Dr. Dille laid out, is a gas tax that hasn’t gone up since 1992 and a growing share of electric and hybrid vehicles that use the roads without paying much toward them. ADOT projects a gap of roughly $162 billion between transportation needs and revenue over the next 25 years. Prop. 141 takes one possible solution off the table permanently before anyone has proposed it. Arizona would be the first state to do so.
Prop. 142* — Vote NO
What a YES vote does: Adds detail to the Constitution’s existing ban on preferential treatment or discrimination by the state based on race or ethnicity. Restricts DEI statements in hiring, promotion, and scholarships; restricts DEI positions in public education; and bars programs that address discipline or services differently by race.
Why we’re opposed: Arizona’s Constitution already prohibits racial preferences in public hiring, contracting, and education. What Prop. 142 adds is a set of broad new restrictions that would reach far beyond hiring statements. Dr. Dille’s reading is that the language is wide enough to stop public agencies from designing programs for specific Arizona communities at all: a dropout-prevention effort aimed at Latino students, a diabetes program in tribal communities, or training for school staff on how to support LGBTQ+ students. Writing that kind of limit into the Constitution means it can’t be fixed by an ordinary bill when the unintended consequences show up. And they will.
Prop. 144* — Vote NO
What a YES vote does: Requires government-issued ID to vote in every election, including by mail. Requires an election-day tabulation option at voting locations. Bans foreign nationals from spending to influence Arizona elections. Creates a new judicial review standard for election laws.
Why we’re opposed: More than eight in ten Arizonans vote by mail, and mail ballots are verified today by matching your signature against the one on file. Prop. 144 requires government ID for those ballots but never explains how a voter is supposed to produce it inside an envelope. Dr. Dille points out that a previous version of this idea would have had voters write their Social Security number on the outside of the ballot envelope; it failed because it was a gift to identity thieves. Nothing in this measure solves that problem. The likely result is fewer people able to use the voting method most Arizonans rely on, not a more secure election. The provisions that sound reasonable, like citizenship requirements and voter ID at the polls, are already law.
Props that would change state law:
Prop. 316 — Vote NO
What a YES vote does: Retroactively bars cities and towns from adopting or increasing a grocery tax without voter approval and caps the rate at 2%.
Why we’re opposed: Grocery taxes are regressive, and we understand the appeal. But most Arizona cities, especially rural ones, depend on sales tax to fund police, fire, and basic services. Governor Hobbs vetoed this bill in 2023 for exactly that reason: it doesn’t eliminate costs for residents, it moves them—into service cuts or higher property taxes. Cities that want to lower or eliminate a grocery tax can already do so.
Prop. 317 — Vote NO
What a YES vote does: Declares drug cartels to be terrorist organizations and directs the Arizona Department of Homeland Security to address them.
Why we’re opposed: Labeling cartels terrorists doesn’t add a single officer, dollar, or tool to the fight against them. It does hand a new law enforcement mission to a department built to administer federal grants, and it writes a declaration that Arizona has been “invaded” into state law, language Dr. Dille reads as designed to trigger a lawsuit with the federal government. The measure also specifies that the terrorist designation can’t support an asylum claim, so Arizona would treat cartels as terrorists for every purpose except helping the people fleeing them. The Governor vetoed this bill too.
Prop. 318* — Vote NO
What a YES vote does: Requires every school and athletic association to designate teams as male, female, or coed based on biological sex as recorded at birth. Bars schools from authorizing the use of restrooms, locker rooms, and other private spaces that don’t match a student’s sex as recorded at birth. Creates a private right of action, meaning new lawsuits against schools.
Why we’re opposed: Arizona law already bars transgender girls from girls’ sports teams. Prop. 318 doesn’t change that; what it adds is a restroom and locker room restriction on transgender students in every school in the state, plus an extension of the sports ban to private organizations like club teams and youth leagues. As Dr. Dille put it on the podcast, this is a bathroom bill wearing a sports jersey. Its real-world effect is to police which door a child can walk through, and the students who pay the price are the ones who already avoid school restrooms out of fear. There is no record of a transgender student in Arizona harming anyone in a locker room. There is a well-documented record of transgender kids being harassed and hurt in exactly those spaces.
If the Legislature wanted to help girls’ sports, it could fund them. This measure doesn’t spend a dollar on athletics. It spends its energy on a group of kids who just want to get through the school day.
Prop. 319 — Vote NO
What a YES vote does: Bars new photo enforcement for traffic violations and requires cities with existing cameras to win voter approval to keep them, then re-approve every ten years.
Why we’re opposed: Red-light and speed cameras at high-risk intersections reduce the T-bone crashes that kill and seriously injure people. Police departments across the Valley oppose this measure. And there’s a detail most voters won’t see on the ballot: as Dr. Dille flagged, a surcharge on photo enforcement fines funds the Citizens Clean Elections Commission. Ending the cameras is a back-door way to defund the agency that runs Arizona’s public campaign financing and voter education.
Prop. 320 — Vote NO
What a YES vote does: Requires certain school districts to spend at least 60% of operational dollars on direct classroom instruction and cuts Classroom Site Fund money for districts that fall short.
Why we’re opposed: Everyone wants more money in classrooms and higher teacher pay. But school buses, nurses, counselors, lunchrooms, libraries, special education paperwork, and broken air conditioners all cost money, and much of it is required by state or federal law. Prop. 320 doesn’t add funding; it penalizes districts that can’t hit a number by taking money away from them, which makes struggling schools worse. It also leaves “direct instruction” undefined and hands that decision to the appointed Auditor General. Voters should be wary of any constitutional-strength mandate whose central term hasn’t been written yet.
* Props. 142, 144, and 318 are a high-priority for Equality Arizona as a YES vote would have negative implications for civil rights, DEI and voting access, and promote anti-transgender measures.
Before you vote
Every one of these measures is on the ballot because the [Republican-majority] Legislature chose the route that can’t be undone. That’s a reason to read carefully, and a reason to say NO when the case for YES isn’t there.
Hear the full conversation with Dr. Brian Dille on Margin of Victory.
Thanks to Equality Arizona for providing these valuable insights!