With ballots in the mail as Election Day nears, a look at key local races, issues

Early ballots are in the mail. The General Election is upon us.

A dizzying array of statewide propositions and all of Arizona’s key leadership positions will be decided in the November General Election, but a county issue with local implications, Proposition 469, might be the most important of all to Maricopa residents.

Both Legislative District 16 House seats as well as the district Senate seat will be determined.

Mail-in ballots went out Oct. 12. Election Day is Nov. 8 for those who prefer to go to the polls.

Proposition 469, a half-cent sales tax to fund Pinal County’s Regional Transportation Plan, is a retooled version of Proposition 417 that Pinal County voters passed five years ago for transportation projects, including the widening of State Route 347 from Maricopa to Interstate 10 and the construction of an overpass at Riggs Road.

The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Prop. 417 unconstitutional and void. The language has been reworked to comply with Arizona law in Prop. 469.

The road tax isn’t the only local decision voters will be making.

LD 16 Senate
TJ Shope, a Republican, faces Democrat Taylor Kerby. Shope is a current member of the Arizona Senate. Due to redistricting, this is his first time running in Maricopa.

Shope, who has been instrumental in lining up funding for the SR 347 project, is a former Coolidge Unified School District Governing Board member.

Shope was elected to the Senate in 2020, where he serves as vice chairman of three committees: Natural Resources, Energy and Water; Transportation & Technology; and Education.

Kerby was a public-school teacher for seven years and has been on the Casa Grande Union High School District Governing Board since 2021.

LD 16 House
Incumbent Republican Teresa Martinez, Republican Rob Hudelson and Democrat Keith Seaman are vying for two seats. (The other seat is currently filled by Republican Mark Finchem, who is his party’s nominee for secretary of state in the general election.)

Martinez is another strong proponent of Prop 469. She is former political director of the Arizona Republican Party. Appointed to the House seat vacated by Bret Roberts of Maricopa in 2021, she is seeking election to the position.

Hudelson, a pastor and U.S. Navy veteran, says he is pro-life and supports gun rights, limited government, parental rights, secure elections, secure border and religious freedom.

Seaman served in the U.S. Air Force and Army Reserve. An educator for four decades as a teacher, principal and administrator, he is vice president of the Coolidge Unified School District Governing Board.

Statewide propositions
Do you want a lieutenant governor? How do you feel about tuition costs for undocumented Arizonans, medical-debt curtailment, election ID laws, the role of dark money in politics and the future of ballot measures themselves?

Those are among the 10 statewide ballot questions.

Of them, Prop 132, the Supermajority Vote Requirement, would require any tax bill or referendum to get at least 60% of the vote to go into effect.

Proponents argue it protects taxpayers from runaway spending by requiring the same kind of supermajority vote at the ballot lawmakers need at the Capitol to raise taxes.

Opponents claim lawmakers already need a two-thirds majority to pass any increases on taxes or to roll back tax credits and exemptions, and that supermajority requirement has hindered lawmakers’ ability to pass even common-sense tax increases.

 

This content was first published in the October edition of InMaricopa magazine.