Clean energy and school voucher propositions go down in flames

Voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to expand a controversial school voucher program, which opponents referred to the ballot last year after its passage by the Legislature.

Another measure which would have imposed a massive new renewable energy mandate on Arizona utilities also lost in a landslide.

Proposition 305, which would have expanded the state’s empowerment scholarship account program to all K-12 students in Arizona and faced fierce opposition from Democratic groups, won the support of only 33 percent of voters, while 67 percent rejected it.

Proposition 127, which would have amended the Arizona Constitution to require that utilities get 50 percent of the energy from renewable sources by 2030, saw nearly 70 percent of voters oppose it.

The campaign for Prop. 127 efforts may have seen the writing on the wall. During the last several weeks of the campaign, the Clean Energy for a Healthy Arizona committee shifted its primary focus to opposing Attorney General Mark Brnovich, spending $3.6 million in an attempt to remove him from office.

Propositions 127 and 305 were the only statewide ballot measures to fail on Tuesday. Voters approved measures to adjust the pension system for correctional officers, prohibit new sales taxes on services, and impose new regulations on the Citizens Clean Elections Commission, which oversees Arizona’s system of public funding for political campaigns.