Residents throughout Maricopa County have a variety of issues to vote on come Election Day on Tuesday, including the recall of a city councilwoman in the East Valley.
Turning Point USA supporters hope to oust Mesa Councilwoman Julie Spilsbury.
They argue she’s not Republican enough after Spilsbury endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris for president last year.
This election is the first one Turning Point has taken an active role in since the assassination of the organization’s co-founder Charlie Kirk.
Spilsbury is facing one challenger: Dorean Taylor.
Education
Elsewhere in the Valley, voters in the Kyrene School District are being asked to approve just under a $15 million budget override amid plans to shutter several district schools.
A total of 21 school districts county-wide are holding bond or override elections.
That includes the Western Maricopa Education Center School District, or West-MEC.
The West-MEC district specializes in career and technical education. The measure requests $415 million in bonds to fund construction of new campuses and allow the expansion of programs like welding and other trade skills.
That would grow the district’s student capacity.
The money would also fund facility upgrades and “improvements to administrative infrastructure.”
Health care
Valley-wide, voters will decide whether to approve nearly $900 million in bonds to increase funding for behavioral health services through Valleywise Health over the next three decades.
Valleywise is a public health care system based in Phoenix.
If the measure is approved, it would be used to fund the construction of new facilities including neighborhood clinics and a specialty care center. There would also be funding for infrastructure improvements.
The measure has several prominent supporters including most of the Phoenix City Council, former GOP Govs. Doug Ducey and Jan Brewer, County Sheriff Jerry Sheridan, the Professional Firefighters of Arizona.
No statements of opposition were submitted against the measure.
Fire and medical
The North County, South County and Superstition Fire & Medical Districts are all holding bond elections.
All three districts want funding for emergency response vehicles (including both fire trucks and ambulances) and fire stations.
The North and South County districts also want to fund “cancer prevention improvements.”
Avondale
Avondale voters are faced with two ballot measures.
Prop. 404 would grant $68 million to parks, recreation and library improvement projects. Those include trails, new facilities and shade structures.
Prop. 405, if approved, will allocate $55 million to public safety and court improvements. The city argues the measure will reduce emergency response times and improve safety services.
Glendale
Glendale residents get to decide on two bond propositions. One would invest $30 million in flood control and water retention. The second would put $35 million into city facilities.
Apache Junction
In Apache Junction, voters have the opportunity to decide whether to change mayoral terms from two years to four years.
Chandler
Chandler voters get to decide on two propositions and a special bond election.
If approved, Prop. 410 would limit consecutive terms for City Council members and the city mayor. It would restrict council members to two consecutive four-year terms for each office and 16 years of service if the member is serving as a councilmember and mayor consecutively.
Prop. 411 would allow the City Council to decide the length of the term a city manager is appointed to serve for. The current city charter allows city managers to be appointed for an indefinite amount of time and entitles the manager to two months’ severance pay.
As for the bond election, a “yes” vote will approve up to $475 million in bonds for four main purposes.
Issue one is to improve Chandler’s parks and recreation amenities with $158 million. That includes constructing new city parks and renovating city pools.
Issue two is to fund city fire department services and response with $88 million. That includes building a new fire station and getting new emergency vehicles.
Issue three is to enhance the Chandler Police Department with $46 million. Those projects may include buying new police vehicles and renovating the main city police station.
Issue four is to fund travel projects for $183 million. The money would fund a variety of projects to improve streets, highways and other traffic infrastructure — like traffic signals.
Friday is the last day voters can vote early in-person for the election.
Tuesday is Election Day for 10 counties in Arizona.
-
From speeding up election results to getting rid of automatic early voting to requiring ID the proposals are impactful. And not even all Republicans agree on what should change. -
Cochise County leaders are asking National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard to investigate debunked concerns about the certification of voting machines in Arizona. -
Early voting for the Salt River Project board election begins on March 11. April 7 is election day. And you may have seen signs around the Valley for a slate of candidates supported by Turning Point USA. -
A watchdog group has accused a Valley landowner of exploiting a loophole in Salt River Project’s rules to use a large property to influence the outcome of the utility’s 2024 board races, before flipping the land to a data center developer for hundreds of millions of dollars. -
Saying the demand is illegal, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes wants a federal judge to throw out efforts by the Trump administration to force him to turn over voter registration and election records.
