The payday-loan industry, which flourished this past decade on Arizonans’ almost-insatiable need for quick, short-term loans regardless of their high interest rates, may have to close down in Arizona unless state lawmakers can be persuaded to ignore voters’ wishes.

Voters last week overwhelmingly rejected Proposition 200, a ballot initiative financed and written by the loan companies to allow them to continue charging high interest rates on small loans. That decision placed Arizona among a growing number of states that have effectively shut down the payday lenders.

But an industry spokesman said payday-loan stores could be wiped out because they cannot afford to operate on the lower rates they will eventually be forced to charge.

As the story points out, the industry may still go to the state legislature to push for an extension of the current law.