Thursday, June 26, 2008

CAP: Marriage Amendment Fails on Senate Vote

This morning, the Arizona Senate failed by one vote to pass the Arizona marriage amendment (SCR 1042). No Democrat supported the marriage amendment while one Republican opposed the marriage amendment. Several senators missed the vote, including Sen. Karen Johnson who has been a strong supporter of traditional values.

The meaning of today's vote: while it's not over until the legislature adjourns, today's vote puts the marriage amendment on life support. For the amendment to be on the November ballot, 16 senators have to vote yes.

Our CAP policy team along with our pro-marriage allies will continue to seek ways to have 16 senators present to vote yes so that Arizona's courts and politicians don't redefine marriage for us. We continue to consider it a top priority for the people to decide the definition of marriage, not the courts and not the politicians.

Note: Under Senate Rules, a senator can move to have a vote reconsidered only if the senator was on the prevailing side. One of our strongest marriage amendment supporters, Sen. Linda Gray, therefore, voted no today so that she then could move to have the vote reconsidered. Sen. Gray then successfully made the motion to have the vote reconsidered. This keeps the door open for another vote on the marriage amendment before the legislature adjourns.

CALL TO ACTION:

  1. Check the recorded vote by clicking here. If your senator supported the marriage amendment, email them to thank them for their support. If your senator missed the vote or voted no, email and call them TODAY to ask for their support for the marriage amendment.
  2. Pray that the marriage amendment still makes it to the November ballot.

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