Frustrations with local government and concerns about parental rights are issues helping to drive voters to the ballot box Tuesday.
But the Nov. 8 turnout likely will still be lower for the midterm election compared with a presidential election despite voters casting ballots for state races, council and school board candidates – and, for voters in the Higley Unified School District, a bond.
“As for turnout, it will likely be 62 to 65% range statewide with about an 8-point GOP participation advantage,” said Paul Bentz, senior vice president of Research and StrategyforHighGround.
In the last midterm election in 2018, Gilbert saw a 67.95% voter turnout, according to the Town Clerk.
In the council race, two diametrically opposed candidates are facing off – former Councilman Bill Spence and newcomer Bobbi Buchli.
Navy veteran Spence is a council appointee who served less than a year in 2021 and Buchli is a real-estate broker.
Both Spence and Buchli are pro-public safety and want to preserve the “small-town feel” and t oppose more high-density apartments in town.
But the similarities end there.
Buchli has taken on the role as an outsider wanting to reform Town Hall. She thinks fiscal spending is out of control and new leadership is needed from top to bottom.
Spence’s campaign has kept to the topics of traffic congestion, water conservation and opposition to any increases in the secondary property tax rate.
Heading into the final days of the election, Buchli’s raised a total of $34,178, of which $25,000 was a self-loan, according to her pre-general election report.
Spence received a total of $27,604 for his campaign war chest, with recent monies coming from political action committees such as Realtors of Arizona, which gave $5,000 and Salt River Project, $500.
School board races
Fed up with mask mandates and online learning, a number of parents entered the political arena this election year.
The conservative Purple for Parents is backing board candidates Chad Thompson in Gilbert Public Schools; Roy Morales and Anna Van Hoek in the Higley Unified race; and Charlotee Golla and Kurt Rihrs in the Chandler Unified race.
Only voters who live in their respective school district’s boundaries are eligible to vote.
For a number of school boards around the country, incumbents have chosen not to run for re-election.
Locally, Dr. Charles Santa Cruz and appointee Bill Parker opted to stay out of the Gilbert Public Schools race and Jill Wilson and Amy Kaylor also stepped aside at the Higley Unified School District election.
In the GPS race, four candidates are vying for the two four-year seats – incumbent Jill Humpherys and challengers Trina Jonas, Collette Evans and Thompson.
Humpherys, the longest serving board member and a Save Our Schools Arizona candidate, has voted to increase teacher and employee pay and helped navigate the district through the pandemic while in office.
Evans, a former teacher, is the co-founder of Unite for Education, a political action committee, which advocates for strong public education in Gilbert and East Mesa. The PAC supported the district’s successful override and bond elections in 2019.
Thompson focuses his campaign against critical race theory and policies that would allow students to identify with the opposite of their birth gender.
While Jonas is not endorsed by the Purple for Parent group, she espouses ideas such as expand parental consent and make sure that programs like critical race theory isn’t being taught in schools, which it is not in GPS.
The district’s two-year seat will be filled by Ronda Page, the sole candidate for the job.
HUSD also has four candidates running for the two open seats, each with four years – Amanda Wade, Brooke Garrett, Anna Van Hoek and Roy Morales.
Wade, a Save our Schools candidate and former teacher, and Garrett, also a former teacher, focus their attention on staffing shortages and funding while Van Hoek and Morales talk about parental rights, more transparency and academic accountability.
In Chandler Unified, five candidates are seeking election to two seats. Besides Golla and Rohrs, the others are incumbent Lara Bruner and Patti Serrano and Marilou Estes.
Save Our Schools, the political group that came from the Red for Ed movement, endorsed Estes and Serrano. The Chandler Chamber of Commerce endorsed Bruner and Golla.
Bond election
HUSD also has a $77.2-million bond on the ballot. Wade and Garrett have signed onto the informational pamphlet as supporters while Morales wrote up an argument opposing it.
The district pared down the size of the bond after voters rejected a $95-million measure in 2021. There is no tax increase if the bond passes, according to the district.
The proposed bond would pay for school renovations, furniture, a new elementary school and enhanced safety and security on campuses.
So far, the political action committee pushing the bond has raised a total of $25,525 – all from the building trade, according to the pre-election report for October.
Donors included Chasse Building Team, which gave $9,800; Willmeng Construction, $3,000; Core Construction, $5,000; Midstate Energy, $5,000, McCarthy Holdings, $5,000 and architectural firm Orcutt Winslow Partnership, $1,500.
Yes for Higley Schools didn’t start spending the donations until October, giving Primary Consultants a total of $12,545.
Paul Ulan, who is a principle for Primary Consultants, also is the PAC’s treasurer.
Although the council and school board races are nonpartisan, party politics is in heavy play with the Arizona Tea Party, the state Republican Party and Arizona Free Enterprise Club standing behind Buchli, Thompson, Van Hoek and Morales.
The Maricopa County Democratic Party has endorsed Humpherys and Wade.
Recent numbers for Gilbert showed 162,893 active voters – 67,861 registered Republicans and 38,717 registered Democrats, according to county elections.
Libertarian came in at 1,445 and others or independents numbered 54,870.
County elections said it’s begun counting early ballots on Oct. 24 and that 1.9 million early ballots have been mailed
The county estimated 98% of ballots will be reported by Nov. 11 with the final count coming 10-12 days after Election Day.
Results will be posted at 8 p.m. on Election Day atResults.Maricopa.Vote.
The first posting of results will be all the early ballots counted to that point. Throughout Election night, the County plans to post results from the Election Day Vote Centers.
The county is expecting up to 250,000 early ballots to be dropped off on Election Day.
After Election Day, the County will post unofficial election results nightly and provide an estimated number of ballots left to count.
The county is also preparing for the increased chance of an automatic recount after final results are confirmed.
Senate Bill 1008 increased the automatic recount threshold from a 10th of 1% to half of 1%. If a statewide contest triggers the new threshold, Arizona counties must count all the ballots on the machines a second time beginning in December after the statewide canvass.
It’s likely the courts would finalize the recount in late December.
