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34 

ARIZONA STATE LEGISLATURE v. ARIZONA 
INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING COMM’N
 
Opinion of the Court 

at the ballot box, without involvement or approval by “the
Legislature.”26  Core aspects of the electoral process regu­
lated  by  state  constitutions  include  voting  by  “ballot”  or 
“secret  ballot,”27  voter  registration,28  absentee  voting,29 
vote  counting,30  and  victory  thresholds.31  Again,  the
States’ legislatures had no hand in making these laws and 
may not alter or amend them.

The  importance  of  direct  democracy  as  a  means  to  con­
trol  election  regulations  extends  beyond  the  particular
statutes  and  constitutional  provisions  installed  by  the
people  rather  than  the  States’  legislatures.    The  very 
prospect  of  lawmaking  by  the  people  may  influence  the
legislature when it considers (or fails to consider) election-
related  measures.  See  Persily  &  Anderson,  Regulating
Democracy  Through  Democracy:  The  Use  of  Direct  Legis­

—————— 

26 See  App.  to  Brief  for  Appellees  11a–29a  (collecting  state  constitu­
tional  provisions  governing  elections).    States’  constitutional  conven­
tions  are  not  simply  past  history  predating  the  first  election  of  state
legislatures.    Louisiana,  for  example,  held  the  most  recent  of  its  12  
constitutional  conventions  in  1992.    J.  Dinan,  The  American  State 
Constitutional Tradition 8–9 (2006) (Table 1–1).  The State’s provision
for voting by “secret ballot” may be traced to the constitutional conven­
tion  held  by  the  State  in  1812,  see  La.  Const.,  Art.  VI,  §13,  but  was 
most  recently  reenacted  at  the  State’s  1974  constitutional  convention, 
see Art. XI, §2. 

27 Madison  called  the  decision  “[w]hether  the  electors  should  vote  by 
ballot  or  vivâ  voce”  a  quintessential  subject  of  regulation  under  the 
Elections  Clause.    2  Records  of  the  Federal  Convention  240–241  (M. 
Farrand rev. 1966). 

28 Miss.  Const.,  Art.  XII,  §249;  N. C.  Const.,  Art.  VI,  §3;  Va.  Const., 

Art. II, §2; W. Va. Const., Art. IV, §12; Wash. Const., Art. VI, §7. 

29 E.g.,  Haw.  Const.,  Art.  II,  §4;  La.  Const.,  Art  XI,  §2;  N. D.  Const.,

Art. II, §1; Pa. Const., Art. VII, §14. 

30 E.g., Ark. Const., Art. III, §11 (ballots unlawfully not counted in the
first instance must be counted after election); La. Const., Art XI, §2 (all
ballots must be counted publicly). 

31 E.g.,  Ariz.  Const.,  Art.  VII,  §7  (setting  plurality  of  votes  as  the
standard  for  victory  in  all  elections,  excluding  runoffs);  Mont.  Const.,
Art. IV, §5 (same); Ore. Const., Art. II, §16 (same).