But nothing they do here makes it easier for people to vote—everything makes it harder, from legislation designed to suppress Democratic votes, to stupid screw-ups like the March primary from hell. We have a special election May 17 to consider Props 123 and 124, and the election wizards put the wrong title on the Spanish version of 124. Oops.
Then we discovered this week that the information pamphlet that describes the propositions, including those yes/no paid comments, hasn’t been delivered to maybe 400,000 people, even though mail-in voting has been underway for a couple weeks. The anti-123 people are pissed because the Big Money and political clout are behind Prop 123, which increases dividends from the state land trust, with most of it going to education. I’ve never seen an anti-123 ad on TV, not even a sign, but I’ve seen dozens of pro ads and yard signs. The voter information guide is probably the only place some people see both sides of the propositions.
Even if 123 passes, we’ll still be a bottom-feeder budgetwise, and I’d bet the money they say will go to schools for 10 years will not go to schools for 10 years. Like earlier education funds approved by voters, they’ll use the school money to pay off their mistakes, like revenue deficits from corporate tax cuts. It took a friggin’ court to tell these turds they stole $1.6 billion from the schools, and they’d better pay back $317 million immediately. Gov. Ducey and the GOP don’t want to cough it up and they’re looking at a lawsuit, so to get around it they invent Prop. 123, whose funding satisfies the court order.
Why can’t we have nice things, like good schools and the vote? Given the very public elections snafus since the March primary, you’d think our gonzo legislature, which funds the county elections offices, might want to do some intelligent tinkering. Republican Senator Kimberly Yee of Phoenix certainly thought so, since she stood in line more than five hours to vote. Her bill mandated more polling sites and other improvements.
Apparently Sen. Yee’s bill morphed with a similar measure sponsored by Rep. David Stevens (R-Sierra Vista) and the idea had bipartisan support. Other members added good stuff, like public meetings and the option to use any polling station, and things looked hunky-dory. And then everyone went home and the bill never came to the floor. The sponsors don’t know what happened, so it’s got to be the leadership, maybe to the top. House Speaker Gowan and Senate President Biggs were probably pissed that the members went around them to restore KidsCare, so here’s a big F-U. Both opposed accepting the federal money that insures low-income children, at no cost to the state.
There wasn’t any leadership from the governor’s office on the elections fixes, just like there wasn’t on KidsCare. In fact, the federal healthcare program, which serves about 30,000 kids in Arizona, didn’t even appear in Ducey’s budget (even though it’s federal money the state must authorize it), and Gov. Koch Ducey rarely spoke glowingly about KidsCare or similar federal programs.
But then parents and children and activists and journalists and most sentient beings in the state kept the pressure on, and the big, bright spotlight made those GOP goobers look like the cruel SOBs they were. So a faction of Republicans joined with all the Dems to go over the leadership’s empty head, and when KidsCare passed, within 11 minutes Gov. Ducey tweeted that he’ll sign it. Soon he posted a happy picture of him doing just that. The people who worked for its passage … not so much.
The governor didn’t get to lead like that on the election fixes, because those bills never got to his desk with a great deal of public support. Profile in courage.