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Local senate races set for November; Maricopa County leaders to certify vote Friday

Posted 8/11/20

As the Maricopa County Elections Department prepared to finalize tabulation and publish official results from last week’s primary election, candidates across the Valley gear up for the real contest — the Tuesday, Nov. 3 general election.

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Local senate races set for November; Maricopa County leaders to certify vote Friday

Posted

As the Maricopa County Elections Department prepared to finalize tabulation and publish official results from last week’s primary election, candidates across the Valley were gearing up for the real contest — the Tuesday, Nov. 3 general election.

According to the office of County Recorder Adrian Fontes, elections officials had counted all but 2,385 out of a record-breaking 857,873 ballots as of Aug. 7.

“Our new tabulation equipment gets you results faster than ever. We’ve tallied nearly all ballots from the August Primary Election! That’s more than 850,000 ballots!” Mr. Fontes stated in an Aug. 7 Twitter post (@RecorderFontes).

According to a county press release, voters cast 699,636 primary ballots in 2018 after casting 555,844 in the 2016 primary.

The remaining ballots — which represent a mere 0.2% of those cast this year — had not been tallied yet due to outstanding issues, such as those with signature problems and provisional ballots.

Officials said those 2,385 voters had been contacted as of last week and had until 5 p.m. last night to reply and resolve their ballot issues before the publication of official results.

Mr. Fontes claimed mail-in ballots remained the top choice of voters again this year.

“Each part of the process — from printing, mailing, verification, processing, & tabulation — plays an important part in our robust security process. In Maricopa County, early mail-in voting is a popular choice among 76% of our voters!” Mr. Fontes tweeted on Aug. 6.

Erika Flores, deputy director of communications at MCED, credited a team effort for helping to inform voters and ensure safety as they cast their primary ballots.

“Even during a pandemic, more Maricopa County voters participated in the 2020 August Primary Election than ever before … We worked with the Maricopa County Department of Public Health to implement safety measures for in-person voters, created a new portal for voters to request a ballot by mail, and informed voters of all their options to participate in the election through a robust voter outreach campaign.”

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors will officially canvass the election 9:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 14.

The canvass certifies every valid vote cast is included in the final election results; the proceedings will be streamed live at the board’s YouTube channel.

Arizona Senate — LD15

In one of the more contentious local races, Republican incumbent Heather Carter failed to defend her Senate seat against fellow Republican Nancy Barto in Legislative District 15.

Both served in the Arizona Senate and House for LD15 — which stretches from north Scottsdale through north Phoenix primarily south of Loop 303 — during the past decade.

Ms. Barto, who most recently represented voters in one of two LD15 seats in the House, received 17,438 out of 34,642 votes for 53% of those cast in her race, defeating Ms. Carter, who received 15,698 votes for 47%.

Ms. Carter served LD15 in the Arizona House from 2011 to 2019; during that same time, Ms. Barto served in the Arizona Senate. Both were forced to flip-flop between houses because of term limits in 2018.

Although Ms. Barto’s House seat was seen as comfortably safe this year, she challenged Ms. Carter’s Senate seat to give voters in the North Phoenix district an option more aligned with their values, according to her victory statement released last week.

“When this campaign began 11 months ago, it was for one reason: to secure our freedoms and protect our values. The principles we believe in and that have made our state and our country great had been eroding for some time and I could not stand by to see them destroyed,” she stated.

During the 2018 general election, Ms. Barto and Republican John Allen combined to defeat Democratic challengers Jennifer Samuels and Julie Gunnigle after corralling a combined 57% of the vote.

Ms. Barto’s victory is assured in November because Democrats did not field a candidate this year in a district with more than 140,000 registered voters, who favor Republicans over Democrats by a 41% to 26% margin.

Arizona Senate — LD22

Republican incumbent David Livingston faced down two challengers for his Legislative District 22 seat, which he has held since defeating Democrat Wendy Garcia after taking 58% of the vote in the 2018 general election.

This year, he garnered support from a plurality of Republican primary voters after getting 29,641 out of 47,470 votes cast for 68% in the West Valley district, which encompasses parts of the Sun City West, Surprise, Peoria and Glendale.

Eliminated were primary opponents Hop Nguyen (8,602 votes for 20%) and Van DiCarlo (5,178 for 12%).

In November, Mr. Livingston will compete against Democratic challenger Sarah Tyree, who received 24,214 votes for 100% in an unopposed primary.

Ms. Tyree is a U.S. Army veteran and West Valley native, who claims no prior legislative experience at her campaign website.

Arizona Senate — LD23

Republican incumbent Michelle Ugenti-Rita defeated challenger Alexander Kolodin in the primary, taking 60% with 24,915 out of 44,518 votes. Mr. Kolodin received 16,357 votes for a 40% second-place showing.

In November, Democratic challenger Seth Blattman seeks to unseat Ms. Ugenti-Rita. He took 27,161 votes in his unopposed primary.

In the 2018 general election, Ms. Ugenti-Rita defeated Democratic challenger Daria Lohman and Independent Christopher Leone after taking 57% of the vote. She defeated two Republican primary challengers that year, taking 41% of the vote in the three-way race.

Having formerly served in the Arizona House for LD23 from 2011 to 2019, Ms. Ugenti-Rita was not able to run for the House seat reelection in 2018 because of term limits.

On his campaign website, Mr. Blattman claims no prior legislative experience.

Arizona Senate — LD24

Democratic incumbent Lela Alston won her primary handily in a district that encompasses more than 106,000 Legislative District 24 voters residing in parts of Phoenix and Scottsdale.

Ms. Alston took 64% of the vote with 21,862 out of 29,728 cast last week; while primary challenger Ryan Starzyk received 36% with 10,143 votes.

The incumbent is guaranteed to retain her seat because no GOP challenger stepped up this year in a district, which is comprised of an estimated 42% registered Democratic voters versus 21% who registered as Republican.

Ms. Alston served in the Arizona House from 2011 to 2019 and was subsequently prevented from running again because of term limits. She won her Senate seat in 2018 after garnering 72% of the vote against Republican challenger Vicki Alger following an uncontested primary.

Ms. Alston also serves as an at-large member of the Phoenix Union High School District Governing Board and previously served in the Arizona Senate from 1976 to 1995.

Arizona Senate — LD26

Democratic incumbent Juan Mendez won another chance to represent an estimated 93,000 voters in Legislative District 26 when he defeated primary challenger Jana Lynn Granillo last week.

Mr. Mendez received 11,448 out of 18,537 votes cast for a 64% to 36% win over Ms. Granillo, who garnered 6,336 votes.

Mr. Mendez defeated Republican Rebecca Speakman in November 2018 after taking 65.8% of the vote; he defeated Democrat Debbie Nez Manuel after getting 53.2% of the vote in the 2018 primary. He previously ran unopposed for the Arizona Senate seat in the 2016 general election.

In November, Mr. Mendez will compete with Republican Jae Chin, who received 7,129 votes in his uncontested primary.

Mr. Chin claims no prior legislative experience in his profile at the Citizens Clean Elections Commission website: azcleanelections.gov.

Editor’s note: This report highlights just a sampling of the upcoming local legislative races; we will continue to update our readers as the election cycle unfolds.